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SIMON WILLARD 



FROM A PORTRAIT 

IN THE POSSESSION OF THE MISSES BIRD 

Dorchester. Mass. 



A HISTORY OF 



SIMON WILLARD 

Inventor and Clockmaker 



TOGETHER WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF HIS SONS — HIS APPRENTICES— AND 

THE WORKMEN ASSOCIATED WITH HIM, WITH BRIEF 

NOTICES OF OTHER CLOCKMAKERS 

OF THE FAMILY NAME 



BY HIS GREAT GRANDSON 



John Ware Willard 



1911 



This is number from an edition limited to five hundred ctpi 



/n% 



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C5> 



Copyright, 1911, by John Wari Wiilard 



PR1NTIP ANn R.nND BY 

E. O. Cockayne 
Boston 



M-8«l 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



SIMON WILLARD 

Portrait of Simon Willard .... 

Simon Willard in his 92nd year from daugerreotypc 

Page of Grafton Records .... 

House and workshop of Simon Willard 

Patent Clock Jack ..... 

Simon Willard's Clock advertisement 

Copy of Patent for timepiece 

Patent specifications for Alarm Clock 

Plan of Rotunda. Jefferson College 

Letter from Simon Willard to Saml. A. Otis 
" " " " to his wife 

" " " " to his son Simon 

" to " " from his wife . 

" to " " from Josiah Quincy 

Statuary Hall, Washington. Showing Franzoni Clock 

Old Arm Chair. Madison Cane 

Bill for Washington Clock .... 

Old vise and tool chest 

Newspaper advertisement 

Franzoni Clock in Capitol Building. Washington . 

Clock in Office of Clerk of Supreme Court. Washington 

Regulator Clock. Made and presented to Harvard College 

Hall Clock. ditto ditto 

ditto Owned by J. T. Needham 

ditto ditto Bernard Jenney 

ditto ditto Henry B. Martin 

Thirty hour Clock. Owned by Saml. T. Brown 
ditto ditto 

Miniature Hall Clock. Owned by Arthur W. Wellington 

Timepiece. Presented to his daughter 

Presentation timepiece. Owned by Dwight M. Prouty 



FRONTISPIECE 

Page 26 
Plate 1 
2 
3 
4 
5,6 
9 
10 

Pages 18, 19 
i 
32 
8 
30 
14 
36 
21 
41 
130 
Plate 13 
" 12 
" 11 
" 11 
" 18 
" 11 
" 18 
15 
" 16 
« 17 
" 17 
1 9 



Plate 
Page 
Plate 
Page 
Plate 
Page 



Timepiece. Owned by Francis H. Bigelow 

ditto <( " The Author 

ditto " " Patrick Meanix 

ditto " " R. H. Maynard 

ditto " " Miss Theodora Willard 

Gallery Clock, First Church, Roxbury 

Light House Clock 

SIMON Will A.RD, Jun. 

Portrait. Reproduced horn Miniature 
Astronomical Clock. Harvard Observatory 
Portrait in his 75th year 
Newspaper advertisement 

ZABDIEL ADAMS WILLARD 
Portrait from a daugerrcot vpe 



Plate 


22 


It 


2] 


c< 


22 


CI 


20 


c< 


2] 


U 


23 


C( 


24 


Page 


65 


Plate 


25 


c< 


26 


Page 


70 



Page 73 



BE \l \MIN F. Wll 1 ARD 

Portrait reproduced from a miniature 
Astronomical Clock. Owned by F. G. Macomber 
Medal awarded bv the Mass. Charitable Society 
Patent tor a revolving light 
Pen ,\\\A ink drawing . 



Page 74 

Plate 25 

Page 75 

Pages 88, 89 

" Plate 2 i 



BENJAMIN Wll l ARD 

Hall Clock. Owned by Arthur W. Wellington 
Homestead at Grafton, Mass. 
Doorstep at old homestead, Grafton 
Newspaper advertisements 



Plate 'J',' 

» 30 

« 31 

» 28 



\ \RON WIL1.AKP 

Timepiece. Owned b) /. A. Willard 
Hair or Shelf Clock. Owned by Dwight M. Prouty 
Shelt Clock. Owned by Howard Marston 
Regulator Clocks. Owned bv the Author . 



Plate 


20 


i< 


29 


C( 


32 


cc 


33 



\ \KO\ Wll 1 ARD, Jun. 

Lyre Clock. Owned bv Patrick Meanix 



Plate 33 



EPHRAIM WILLARD 

Hall Clock. Owned by Theodore W. Gore . . Plate 34 

EL NATHAN TABI R 

Portrait ....... Page 106 

Timepiece. Owned by K. E. Smith . . . Plate 35 

WILLIAM CUMMENS 

Timepiece. Owned by Francis H. Bigelow . . Plate o-"> 

Mall Clock. Owned by Henry Clap Kendall . . "34 

WILLIAM KING LEMIST 

Timepiece. Owned by Henrv Clap Kendall . . Plate 36 

PHILANDER J. WILLARD 

Gravity Clock. Owned by Edwin K. Johnson . . Piute 36 

ALEXANDER T. WILLARD 

Old Clock Factory at Ashby, Mass. . . . Plate 37 

Mansion House at Ashby, Mass. .... 38 



ADDENDA AND KRRATA 



Aiinim ia riONS 

O. G, R. Original Grafton Records 

R. C. Boston Record Commissioner's Reports 

B. M. cv D, Births, Marriages and Deaths 

Ci. S. Grave Stones 

Errata 

Page 80, References to Plate L6 should be Plato L2 

89. M - -I " Plate L5 

99. •• Page SS « Page ST 

Plate 29. Should read Dwight M. Prouty, 

Pages SS and 89 Specifications for revolving light should have been 
printed following Page 76. 

A.DDSND \ 

The illustration on the left of Plate 'J'J, referred to on page 62, is the 

one showing work, ot English artist. 



PREFACE 

This book was originally intended simply as a memoir of 
Simon 5 Willard, Clock-maker and Inventor. While writing 
it the author found so many erroneous ideas prevailing about 
Simon 5 Willard, and his clocks, that the book was enlarged to 
its present form. The compilation of the book has been one 
of great difficulty. The material at hand is very scanty, and 
much of the early life of the Willards will have to remain 
blank for want of definite information. The author is particu- 
larly indebted to his father, Zabdiel 7 Adams Willard, for much 
of the information, particularly about the clocks, and the 
methods of manufacture, given in this book; indeed without 
his assistance it could not have been written. To Mr. Edwin 
A. Howe, Town Clerk of Grafton, Mass., the author expresses 
his thanks for his kindness in allowing him to examine the 
town records, and also to those who so kindly allowed him 
to take photographs of the clocks, portraits, documents, etc., 
used in illustrating this book, and without which the work 
would be of little interest. 

The author cannot hope to have avoided all mistakes, but 
trusts there are no serious ones. 



SIMON WILLARD 

Simon 5 Willard (Benjamin 4 Joseph 3 Benjamin 2 Simon 1 ) the 
celebrated clock-maker and inventor, a lineal descendant of 
the first New England progenitor of the family, Major 
Simon Willard, the founder of Concord, Mass., and promi- 
nent leader in King Philip's war, was one of a family of 
twelve children, born in Grafton, Mass., the eighth son of 
Benjamin 4 and Sarah 5 (Brooks) (Ebenezer 4 Noah 3 Joshua' 
Thomas 1 ) Willard. 2 

Children of Benjamin and Sarah (Brooks) Willard. 

I Sarah, born July 7, 1740; 3 died Nov. 5, 1 75 1 . s 

II Joseph, born Dec. 27, 1741 ; 3 minister, H. C. 1765." 

III Benjamin, born Mar. 19, 1743; 3 clock-maker. 

IV Solomon, born Jan. 8, 1745-6; 3 tanner. 

V Samuel, born Aug. 19, 1746; 3 died October 31, 175 i. s 

VI John born Aug. 8, 1748; 3 lastmaker. 

VII Joshua, born May 18, 1751 ; 3 blacksmith. 

VIII Simon, born Apr. 3, 1753; 3 clock-maker. 

IX Ephraim, born Mar. 18, 1755; 3 clock-maker. 

X Aaron, born Oct. 13, 1757;' clock-maker. 

XI Lucy, born Oct. 10, 1759. 3 

XII Eunice, baptized June 20, 1766.' 

As the date of Simon Willard's birth has often been 
erroneously given, a photographic copy of the original Grafton 
Record (Plate 1) is shown. Very curiously the entire family 
with one exception is recorded on one page. The history of 

■Willard Memoir. Pp. 365-383-433. 

'Concord B. M. and D. Page 145. 

'Original Grafton Records. Vol. I. Page 206. 

'Grafton Vital Records. Page 148. 

'Original Grafton Records. Deaths. Vol. I. Page 267. 

'Willard Memoir. Page 433. 

I 



2 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

Simon Willard's early boyhood in Grafton is very meager. 
He had a limited schooling, in which the study of Latin figured 
somewhat; he attended the school of his native town. He 
did not take kindly to hard study, however, and showed such 
an inclination for mechanical pursuits, that at the early age of 
twelve his father apprenticed him to a Mr. Morris, " an Eng- 
lishman then engaged in the manufacture of clocks in Graf- 
ton." 7 Drake 8 also says that Simon Willard learned his trade 
of an Englishman named Morris. The author is obliged to 
confess after an exhaustive search that he is utterly unable to 
locate or identify this Morris. There are none of that name 
to be found in the early Grafton records, and there is nothing 
in any of the Worcester County Registry or Probate Records 
that give the slightest clue, nor in any of the surrounding 
towns is there any person, at that period, by the name of 
Morris, whose occupation is given as a clock-maker that the 
author can find. Histories of Grafton throw no light on the 
subject. Drake gives no authority for his statement, nor 
Holden. If this Morris had an existence he probably was 
a Journeyman clock-maker, or a person that only had a 
rudimentary knowledge of clock-making. On the other hand, 
Simon Willard himself was heard to say that the man to 
whom he was apprenticed knew little or nothing of the art 
himself, and that his teacher was his brother Benjamin. 
Until more definite information is available, Simon Willard's 
statement will have to be accepted as the correct one. Ben- 
jamin Willard never made a very good clock, and possibly 
Benjamin learned the trade of this Morris, and Holden and 

'Edward Holden. Boston Transcript. Sept. 4, 1857. 
*R. C Vol. 34. Page 152. 



PLATE 1 



$en/a»6n-, <lff&nn) fnu i^fcfyV'"-"'- 0^/U^ an) /&*&-. /Hi Wife- f 



i 



PHOTOGRAPHIC REPRODUCTION OF THE ORIGINAL 
GRAFTON RECORDS 

OF THE 

BENJAMIN WILLARD FAMILY 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 3 

Drake have confused him as Simon's teacher. Whoever was 
his instructor, Simon Willard on being apprenticed at once 
found himself in his natural element, and so early did his 
genius express itself that before the year was out he had 
made with his own hands, without assistance from his master, 
a clock that was at once pronounced far superior to those 
produced by his master. This clock was the tall, striking 
clock in general use up to the beginning of the nineteenth 
century. When it is considered that there were no lathes, or 
wheel cutting, or pinion shaping machines, in those days, and 
that all work on a clock had to be done by hand, the file, the 
drill, and the hammer being the only instruments, the feat of 
making a clock at his age may be considered extraordinary. 
Simon Willard was at this time but thirteen years of age. 
From this time on, all his clocks were made by hand. How 
long Simon Willard remained with his instructor, the author 
has no means of knowing. All information in regard to his 
early life, and that of his brothers, while in Grafton is vague 
and unsatisfactory. If he finished his apprentiship, it is possi- 
ble he might have worked for his brother Benjamin, who had 
his clock factory there, but there is more reason to think, how- 
ever, that he set up in business for himself, as clocks marked 
" Simon Willard, Grafton," are occasionally found. The first 
really authentic record we have of Simon Willard is during 
the Lexington alarm, when with his brothers, John, Ephraim, 
and Joshua, he marched with Capt. Aaron Kimball's company 
of militia to Roxbury. His record is as follows: 8 — "Simon 
Willard, Private, Capt. Aaron Kimball's co of militia [Col] 
Artemas Ward's regt, which marched in response to the alarm 

'Mass. Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolution. Vol.17. P a 8 e 395- 



4 Simon WlLLARD and His Clocks 

of April 19, 1775, said Willard marched April 19, 1775, dis- 
charged April 24, 1775. service 1 week, reported returned 
home." Simon Willard was not warlike. Alter his discharge 
he returned to Grafton and staid there during the war, he 
understood making clocks, not war. He was often heard to 
say that the musket he carried had no lock on it. He was 
drafted into the army later on, hut having no longing for a 
military life, he procured a substitute. The substitute said he 
preferred the cavalry to the infantry service, and so Simon 
gave him his own horse, and provided accoutrements, and took 
the man to the recruiting officer, who looked him over, 
accepted him, and put his name on the roster. After the 
ceremonies were completed, the recruit mounted his horse, 
and rode off, after solemnly promising to return said horse 
and accoutrements at the end of his enlistment. He was never 
heard of again, probably having as little desire for military 
glory as Willard himself. When asked about it, Simon 
Willard's reply always was, "I suppose he is riding yet." In 
fact, to tell the honest truth, Simon Willard had a mortal 
dread of fire-arms. On one occasion, he was in the office 
of his son-in-law, and seeing an old musket, took it up, and 
in some way during his examination of the mechanism, it 
went off with a tremendous report, sending a charge through 
the ceiling and sending him sprawling on his back on the 
floor. After this he never would touch a gun, and if he was 
told the gun was not loaded his reply was always the same, 
"Well it may go off if it isn't." Just how Simon Willard 
was occupied during the period between 1775 and 1780, the 
author is unable to say with any certainty, but it seems to be 
reasonably certain that he was in the clock business for him- 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 5 

self, for, as before noted, clocks marked "Simon Willard, 
Grafton," are sometimes found. He would have hardly marked 
them unless he had a shop of his own. During this period, 
he was married. Simon Willard married, 1 " Nov. 29, 1776, 
Hannah Willard. She was born April 9, 1756," died, Aug. 8, 
1777.' 2 

Children of Simon and Hannah Willard. 

Issac Watts, born Feb. 6, 1 777- 13 
died Aug. 8, 1 777- 12 

Hannah 5 Willard (Joseph 1 Joseph 3 Benjamin 2 Simon') was 
Simon Willard's first cousin." She and her infant son died 
the same day from some epidemic prevailing in Grafton at 
that time. After the death of his wife, Simon Willard probably 
remained for a time in Grafton, Clock-making and perhaps 
peddling them around the country. Just when he left Grafton 
and came to Roxbury is uncertain. Drake" says he came in 
1780, but gives no authority. In a vote of thanks given to 
Simon Willard, Aug. 20, 1829, by the Corporation of Harvard 
College, they say that for over fifty years he had charge of 
the clocks of the College. This certainly would show that 
Simon Willard was in Roxbury before 1780. He probably 
came sometime between 1777 and 1780. On his arrival in 
Roxbury, Simon Willard set up his shop in the building now 
numbered 2196 Washington St. (Plate 2) and which he occu- 

!0 O. G. R. Marriages. Vol. 3. Page 94. 

"O. G. K. Births. Vol.1. Page 220. 

"Family Record. 

"O. G. R. Births and Deaths. Vol. I. Page 104. 

"History of Grafton, by F. C. Pierce. Pages 603, 604, 605. 

,6 R. C Vol. 34. Page 152. 



6 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

pied until his retirement in 1839, a period of over fifty-eight 
years. The author is of the opinion that for the first few 
years Simon Willard did not live continuously at Roxbury, but 
went back and forth, perhaps spending his winters at Grafton, 
for in a deed dated March 2, 1778, recorded April 1785, 16 we 
find him buying an estate in Grafton of Nathan Morse, in the 
deed he calls himself "clock and watch maker of Grafton." 
He probably sold his estate at some later date, but the author 
has never been able to find any record of such a sale, probably 
never being recorded. 

Simon Willard's name first appears in the Roxbury Records 
in 1783, when he is taxed for 2 polls, 3£ Real Estate, 6£ Per- 
sonal." Very curiously, his brother Aaron appears at the same 
date, taxed for exactly the same amount. As Simon Willard 
was taxed for two polls, it would seem to show that he had a 
workman, or an apprentice with him. The census of 1790 18 
shows him to be a resident of Roxbury, but his name is mis- 
spelled Williard. His name, however, is not in the index. 
The house (Plate 2) in which he did all his work, made all his 
inventions, set up all his clocks, and where all his children 
were born, is still standing in Washington St. (formerly Rox- 
bury St.), with very little alteration, and with the exception of 
the show windows, cut in what was then the end of the house, 
and the removal of the pitched roof, is (1905) practically as 
Simon Willard left it. The first floor contained a parlor, back 
of which was the kitchen with a huge open fire-place. A very 
fine Hall Chime clock stood in this kitchen next to the 



"Worcester Deeds. Vol. 97. Page 504. 

"Roxbury Tax Lists for November, 1783. 

"First Census of United States for Massachusetts, 1790. Roxbury Town. Page 205. 



PLATE 2 



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Simon Willard and His Clocks 7 

entrance. It would be of interest to know what became of 
this clock. The sleeping rooms, four in number, were above. 
How his family of eleven children found room in this house 
is a matter of astonishment to the present generation, who do 
not understand the possibilities of the trundle bed, a conven- 
ient institution in those days. The entrance to the house was 
from the side. Back of the kitchen was the work-shop, and 
under it was a shed in which was stored the family wood and 
provisions. In the floor of the shop was a hole about a foot 
square through which went the pendulum of his great Turret 
clocks, when tested for time. The principal part of the pen- 
dulum swung below the floor in the centre of the shed, and 
thereby hangs a tale. In the early part of the century, half a 
dozen pirates, more or less, were executed on Boston 19 Neck, 
now Washington St., about half-way between Roxbury and 
Boston. Of course, the hanging was made a gala occasion, 
the whole population turned out en masse to see the show. 
Among these were half a dozen Roxbury School boys, who 
were so elated by the exhibition that they concluded to have 
a private hanging of their own, and so adjourned to Simon 
Willard's shed to carry out the idea with all the particulars. 
One of their number, Johnty Collins, so named, not over 
bright, was selected as the criminal, accused of piracy, with 
un-numbered atrocities, tried, convicted and ordered to instant 
execution. The desperate villain was placed on a nail keg, 
a noose adjusted round his neck, secured to a convenient 
floor beam, and drawn taut. The nail keg was kicked away, 
and Johnty was left dangling in mid air, making desperate 
efforts to get away. As he was growing black in the face, 

"R. C Vol. 34. Page 68. 



8 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

the court jury fled precipitately, making no effort to take 
him down, and he would undoubtedly have perished then 
and there had not Mr. Willard hearing some unearthly gasp- 
ing and other unaccustomed sounds coming up through the 
pendulum hole, went down to investigate and just in time to 
prevent the unhappy Johnty from sharing the fate of the 
other pirates. The author would say here, that when he 
visited Simon Willard's old house with his father, Z. A. 
Willard, in 1905, it was practically as described. At a later 
date, 1909, the author had a conversation with the owner of 
the building, Mr. Benj. F. James who informed him that the 
house was remodelled in 1861, the pitched roof taken off 
and a flat one substituted and other alterations made. If 
this was so, the house must have been made over on the 
original lines, for Z. A. Willard said (1905) that as far as he 
could see the house was nearly as he knew it in 1838, the 
rooms very little altered, the doorway looked the same, and 
he especially pointed out to the author the shed and the 
pendulum hole, and told the story of the hanging. The 
present occupant of the place has pulled it about so that 
very little of the interior can be recognized. Shortly after 
Simon Willard's arrival in Roxbury, the exact date not being 
certain, he made a large double dial clock, for the purpose 
of advertising his business. His own house not being 'strong 
enough to stand the weight of this clock, he put it up on 
the front of his next door neighbor's, Mr. Child's house. 
Here it remained, a land-mark for this 'part of Roxbury. 
After Simon Willard retired from business, in 1839, he pre- 
sented this clock to the town of Roxbury, and it remained 
for many years after, until it was finally taken down. The 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 9 

staples that held the clock are still to be seen, between the 
upper windows, and are plainly shown in the picture (Plate 
2), the bay window is an addition of recent years. The 
author quotes an extract from a letter received by him in 
regard to this clock. 20 " I am sorry I cannot remember the 
name of the private collector to whom I disposed of the old 
clock, several years ago. The old clock laid in the cellar 
for years until this person I write of heard of it as being a 
land-mark, looked it up, and as we set no value on it, were 
glad to have him give it a place with his collection of 
antiques." The author regrets he has been unable to locate 
the collector in order that a photograph might have been 
obtained of the old clock. Whatever intentions Simon 
Willard had of returning to Grafton were changed by his 
marriage in 1788, and he became a permanent resident of 
Roxbury. 

Simon 5 Willard married, 2nd, Jan. 23, 1788, 21 Mrs. Mary 
(Bird) Leeds, widow of Richard Leeds of Dorchester, 22 Mass., 
and daughter of Edward and Mary (Star) Bird. 23 She was 
born Feb. 18, 1763," died July 23, 1823." 

Children of Simon and Mary (Bird) Willard. 

i. Thomas Rice, born Roxbury, Nov. 3, 1788. 26 

2. Hannah, born Roxbury, March 25, 1790. 26 

3. Harriot, born Roxbury, Sept. 26, 1791. 26 

4. Mary, born Roxbury, March 12, 1793. 28 

"Letter from Mr. Benjamin F. James, Roxbury. January 28, 1908. 

2L Roxbury Marriages, 1632 to i860. 

"R. C Vol. 21. Page 235. 

2a R. C Vol. 28. Pages 289 and 344. 

24 R. C Vol. 21. Page 164. 

"Grave Stone, Forest Hills Cemetery. 

"Family Records. 



10 Simon Willard and His Clocks 



9 
10 
ii 



Simon, born Roxbury, Jan. 13, I795. M 
Joseph, born Roxbury, Sept. 13, 1796. M 
Julia Knox, born Roxbury, Sept. 25, 1798. 2 " 
John Mears, born Roxbury, March 20, 1800. 29 
Julia, born Roxbury, Jan. 28, 1802. *" 
Benjamin Franklin, born Roxbury, Nov. 2, 1803. 
Sarah Brooks, born Roxbury, June 25, 1805. *• 



A more extended notice of some of the children of Simon 
Willard will be given in other chapters, and it will be noticed 
how his mechanical ability and inventive faculties were 
inherited and carried through another generation. Simon 
Willard had not been in Roxbury long before his inventive 
faculties asserted themselves, and he brought out his Clock 
Jack, for which, in 1784, he was granted the exclusive privi- 
lege of making and selling, by an act of the General Court 
of Massachusetts, passed July 2, and approved by John 

Hancock. 37 

1784. CHAPTER 17. 

MAY SESSION. CH. 17. 

"An Act Granting to SIMON WILLARD, The Exclusive Privilege of 
Making and vending CLOCK JACKS, FOR FIVE YEARS. Chap. 17. 

Whereas it appears that it will be productive of great national advan- 
tages that every reasonable encouragement should be given to arts, science, 
useful inventions, and improvements. And whereas, Simon Willard of 
Roxbury, hath by study and application, invented a clock jack with a com- 
pleat apparatus, which appears well calculated to answer the end designed and 
hath petitioned this Court for an exclusive patent for making and vending the 
same. 

Be it therefore enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in 
General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, That there be 
granted unto the said Simon Willard, the sole and exclusive right to make 
and sell his said clock jacks, within the Commonwealth for and during the 
term of five years next ensuing. 

"Family Records. 

"Laws and Resolves of Massachusetts, 1784. Page 45. 



PLATE 3 





WORKS EXPOSED 



SIMON WILLARD PATENT CLOCK JACK 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 11 

And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid That no person 
shall, from and after the passing of this act, and during the said term of five 
years, make, sell or utter clock jacks in imitation of those invented by the said 
Willard, without his licence and approbation. And be it further enacted by 
the authority aforesaid That if any person, shall, from and after the passing of 
this Act, and during the said term of five years, make, sell or utter clock 
jacks, as aforesaid, he, she, or they, so offending, shall, for every such offense 
forfeit and pay the sum of six pounds, one moiety thereof to the use of this 
Commonwealth and the other moiety to the person, who shall sue for the 
same to be recovered in an action of debt, in any Court proper to try the 
same. 

Provided always and be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the 

said Jacks shall at no period during the said term of five years be sold by the 

said Willard for a greater sum than three pounds, and the said exclusive right 

granted in manner as aforesaid, shall cease and determine immediately upon 

the said jacks being raised by the said Willard to a greater sum." 

July 2, 1784. 

For the benefit of the uninitiated, a Clock Jack may be 
described as a piece of kitchen furniture much used in old 
times for roasting meat. The utensil was suspended by a 
hook from the mantel shelf in front of the open fire place 
and the meat was hung on the hook at the end of the chain, 
and the machinery being wound up, the meat was slowly 
rotated. These clock jacks, mostly imported from England, 
were very heavy and cumbersome. Simon Willard's improve- 
ment consisted in making the whole instrument lighter and 
more compact and having the machinery actuated by a 
spring and lever, on the principle of the verge escapement, 
and was perhaps suggested by his watch. The whole was 
enclosed in a neat brass case (see Plate 3). Simon Willard 
never made very many of these clock jacks, for about the 
same time somebody brought out the tin kitchen, which 
proved more convenient as long as the open fire place was 
used for cooking. 



12 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

After leaving Grafton, Simon Willard abandoned the 
manufacture of the Half or Shelf clock, and devoted himself 
exclusively to the making of the Hall clock, Church or 
Turret clocks, Gallery clocks, and general repair work. In 
the summer time, or when business was slack, he peddled 
clocks about the country, his beat was along the North 
Shore. Simon Willard never advertised in the papers, the 
nearest approach to an advertisement is the printed form 
(Plate 4) that is sometimes, though rarely, found inside the 
doors of his Hall clocks. It will be noticed that the forms 
were printed in Worcester, Mass., but no date is to be 
found on them. At the top of the form will be noticed 
the picture of his Dial clock, before spoken of. The per- 
ambulators referred to in his advertisement were the fore- 
runners of the modern odometer. 

CLOCK MANUFACTORY. 
SIMON WILLARD, 

AT his Clock Dial, in Roxbury Street, manufactures every kind of CLOCK 
WORK; fuch as large Clocks for Steeples, made in the beft manner and warranted, 
price with one dial, 500 dollars; with two dials, 600 dollars; with three dials, 700 
dollars with four dials, 900 dollars. — Common eight day Clocks with very elegant 
faces and mahogany cafes, price from 50 to 60 dollars. — Elegant eight day Time 
pieces, price 30 dollars. — Time pieces which run 30 hours, and warranted, price 10 
dollars. Spring Clocks of all kinds, price from 50 to 60 dollars. — Clocks that will 
run one year, with once winding up, with very elegant cafes, price 100 dollars. — 
Time pieces for Aftronomical purpofes, price 70 dollars. — Time pieces for meeting 
houfes, to place before the gallery with neat enamelled dials, price 55 dollars. 
Chime clocks that will play 6 tunes, price 120 dollars. — Perambulators are alfo 
made at faid place, which can be affixed to any kind of wheel carriage, and will tell 
the miles and rods exact, price 15 dollars. 

GENTLEMEN who wifh to purchafe any kind of CLOCKS, are invited to 
call at faid WILLARD'S CLOCK MANUFACTORY, where they will receive 



ClOCk n#ttilU!f 



PLATE 4 



SIMON WILL * r 

/^C his Clocj; Bft.-.t, in Re Ei ^ i 

£ItxJ^ Foe Sierpiu, lUUt i-\ the Sell i * » - l 

I Clocks, with raycV-se: fjc c*> - /^J 

6ot!ol!i;j — L!rg:ni^ht4». ■ 
*p**co *b:chrut jobourtjgn^*. 

Do<)» of*U tiaAv^ncifretOjjb:: tf- - 

OQctcj.*, »i boocc *iDCbr. [ op ml h\g . « 

!»1/-T.r- | -iift::- -. 

, ptccct for fen tj 

( <!c4 4mU. p -5; J-:. i- — C C . i-. 

i' pTKf |<0 -". * t — r r*-b j;*lor- ' . fe- 

i «£i rodi exif! price ij I 



.«. CE>TU*a.S- 

^ LARD i 



■ -i 

Li' v kg 






Pitvrt> ii l ; )Si 






- i : 









SIMON WILLARD 

CLOCK ADVERTISEMENT 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 13 

fatisfactory evidence, that it is much cheaper to purchafe new, than old and fecond 
hand CLOCKS : He warrants all his work — and as he is ambitious to give fatis- 
faction — he doubts not of receiving the public approbation and patronage. 
DIRECTIONS TO SET CLOCKS IN MOTION. 
Firft place the clock perpendicular, then faften it with a fcrew, pull out the 
nails which faften the pendulum and pulleys, then hang on the weights, the heavieft 
on the ftriking part. — You need not wind up any until the clock is run down. — You 
may fet the clock to the right hour, by moving the minute hand forwards or back- 
wards. — The Month and Moon wheel is fixed right by moving them with your 
finger. — Screw the pendulum ball up to make the clock go fafter, and down to go 
flower. 

PRINTED BY I. Thomas, Jun.— Worcefter. 

In 1801, he invented an improved Timepiece, and 
applied for a patent for it. This patent was granted and 
issued to him by the U. S. Patent Office, February 8, 1802. 
This Willard Patent Timepiece was a great improvement 
on the tall upright clock then in use. It was smaller, more 
compact, more easily set up, and handled, and being made 
to fasten to the wall, was not always getting knocked off 
and getting smashed like the Half or Shelf clocks, and were 
much cheaper than the old style clocks. It was an instant 
and complete success, coming at once into public favor, and 
superseded all other clocks. It was a perfect timekeeper, 
and beautifully simple in construction. A curious fact of 
this invention is that although hundreds of thousands of 
these clocks have been made to the present day, not the 
slightest improvement has been made upon them by any of 
the ingenious workmen who have made the clocks up to 
the present time. This fact would place him in the front 
rank of the Horological artists, with John Harrison (1693- 
1776), inventor of the Marine Chronometer, and yet Harrison's 
invention was greatly improved by John Arnold (1736-1799), 



14 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

who invented the Detent Escapement, and Thomas Earnshaw 
(1749-1829), who made further improvements, making it the 
most perfect instrument for determining longitude now in use. 
Another thing that served to make this Timepiece popular 
was its graceful shape. The original patent issued (Plate 5), 
signed by President Thomas Jefferson, James Maddison, 
Secretary of State, and Levi Lincoln, Attorney-General, is 
still preserved in good condition. 

"The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent, and making part of 
the same) (containing a description in the words of the said Simon Willard 
himself of his im-) (provement, In a Timepiece. 

Be it known, that I, Simon Willard of Roxbury, in the County of Norfolk 
and Com-) (monwealth of Mafsachusetts, have invented, constructed and 
applied to use a new and useful) (regulator, or timepiece. The description ot 
its machinery, and the explanation of its principles are) (as follows, viz: — 
The height of it is two feet, and the diameter of the face about seven inches) 
(but may be increased or diminished to any size. The power of motion is 
a weight instead) (of a spring, which is the case in all regulators, and time 
pieces smaller than the clock. The) (weight falls only fifteen inches in eight 
days, during which time the regulator goes without) (winding up, whereas, 
the weight of the eight day clock falls not less than six feet in the) (same 
time. By the construction of the timepiece or regulator the pendulum is 
brought forward) (in front of the weights, by which means it may be made 
longer and will consequently vibrate) (more accurately than the common 
method in which the pendulum was placed behind the) (weights. The pen- 
dulum is suspended on pivots by which it is prevented from the least warble) 
(which is one great cause of inaccuracy in the common regulator, consid- 
ered hitherto irremidiable). (At the bottom of the pendulum there is a plate 
graduated to the arch described which serves to) (measure the oscillations of 
the pendulum and shews to what distance it ought to vibrate, from) (the center 
of gravity to keep true time and likewise shews when it is out of order or 
wants) (oiling or cleaning: also the variations of the vibratory motion of the 
pendulum from the influence) (of heat and cold, may be accurately ascer- 
tained and in a great measure remidied. The cace) (of the Regulator is thick 
glass, painted, varnished and gilt in a manner which can never) (fade, and is 



PLATE 5 



' 



Cljr Umtcti §5>tates of America, 

'/)■ alt to zcfwm theft: Letters Patent Jliall come : 

Whereas 

in tin United St ,u . hath alledged that he has invented a new and ufeful improvement 



lich improvement his n known or ufed before' his application; lias that he does 

verily believe that he is the true inventor or difcoverer of the faid improvement, 

has paid into the Tueafury 
ot the United States, the Cum of thirty dollars, delivered a receipt for the fame, and prefented a petition to 
the Secretary of Stare, fignif) thg a deliiv of obtaining an exclillive property in the faid improvement and 
praying that a pate:.: may b< wanted l"i that purpofe : These are tsiereforf. to grant, according to law. 
to the laid • his heirs, adminiftrators, or alligns, for the term of 

fourteen years, from th< i day of &. 2 t 

the full and exclufive righl conftructing, ufing, and sending to others to be ufed. the 

laid improvement, a defcript^on ^hereof is given in the words ol the faid 
himfclf, in the fchcduk heieo r.\ a part oi thefe prci 

\.- 1 '\i Whereof, / have caujid thefe Letters to be made Patent, and the Seal of thr 

■d States to be hereunto affixed. 

G i \ . ■ i I, at the City of this • day oj 

in the year of our Lord, on- I eight hundred ■' tu. t and 

pj die Ind'h—i • ales of America, thr 

the Pre&d] 









City of i 
l DQ HEREBY CERTIFY, Rut th 

10 ine on the day of 



Jivercd 
ir of our Lord, 
one thoufand ciffhi hundred , examine 

ibc fame, and find ihein conformable to law. And I «o hereby return the fauie to 
lie Secretary of State, within fifteen dayi I.i>m the date aforefaid. rowit : — Oa thU 



day of 



in the year aforefaid 




i/Si-st--- 



Secretary of Stat 






/V 






/ / 



PATENT ISSUED TO SIMON WILLARD FOR A TIMEPIECE 



FROM ORIGINAL 



IN POSSESSION OF THE AUTHOR 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 15 

more durable as well as beautiful and cheaper than the common china ena-) 
(melled or any other kind of caces. The door of the regulator is set with 
glass painted and) (gilded with an oval space left through which the motion 
of the pendulum is seen which has) (a pleasing effect. The whole of this reg- 
ulator can be constructed and made with much less labor) (and expense 
than any other kind of regulator yet constructed. In testimony that the 
afore-) (mentioned is a true description thereof, I, the said Simon Willard have 
hereunto set my) (Hand and Seal this twenty-fifth day of November in the 
year of our Lord, one thousand,) (eight hundred and one. 
Signed and Sealed in presence of us Simon Willard. 

Luther Richardson. 

Thos. J. Robinson. 

The specifications are very simple, not to say crude, and 
were evidently made out by Simon Willard himself. They 
would hardly pass muster in the Patent Office at the present 
day, when every point is rigidly specified. There is much 
uncertainty about the exact date when Simon Willard first 
made his Timepiece, and there is good reason to think he 
made them for some years before he patented them. As he 
never dated his Timepieces it makes the question difficult. 
Referring again to his advertisement (Plate 4) it will be 
noted he mentions Timepieces. This advertisement was 
printed by Isaiah Thomas, Jur., of Worcester, Mass., but un- 
fortunately no date is given. Isaiah Thomas, Jur. was the son 
of Isaiah Thomas, printer and publisher, of Boston, who 
removed to Worcester at the outbreak of the Revolution, 
and published the Worcester Spy, and other papers. Isaiah 
Thomas, Jur. succeeded to the business in 1801. As some of 
the clocks containing this advertisement are positively 
known to have been made in 1790, it would seem to show 
that the Timepiece was made at that date, supposing Isaiah 
Thomas, Jur. was in business for himself at that time. There 



16 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

is a tradition in the family that Simon Willard did not 
realize the value of his invention, and when he visited 
Washington to show the authorities how to run the clock 
he made for them (see letter, Page 18), President Jefferson 
saw the importance of the invention, and told Simon Wil- 
lard to take out a patent for it. Until some documentary 
evidence is found giving an earlier date, the author is reluc- 
tantly compelled to give 1801 as the beginning of the Time- 
piece. Two letters (Plates 7 and 8) have recently (1909) 
come to light wherein his Timepieces are mentioned, and 
they give no earlier date than 1802. It would seem, how- 
ever, from the data given about the Timepiece belonging 
to Mr. Dwight M. Prouty (Pages 45-46) that Simon Willard 
certainly was making the Timepiece as early as 1796. 

In 1819 he applied for and obtained another patent, 
this time for an alarm clock. Part of the original Patent 
still exists (Plate 9). The cover is missing, evidently having 
been taken by some one, probably for the autographs. It 
would have had the signature of President Monroe. The 
wording of both the specifications is very quaint. 

"The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent, and making) (part 
of the fame containing a description in the words of the faid Simon Willard, 
himself) (of his improvement in Clocks. 

There is an alarm wheel with teeth like the pallat wheel of a clock) 
(with fmall pallats : the hammer ftem being attached to the pallats, and reach- 
ing through) (the clock plates on the other side: and when let off, it ftrikes on 
the top of the cafe of) (the clock, and makes a noise like fome one rapping 
at the door, and it will wake you) (much quicker than to ftrike on a bell in 
the usual way. 

There is only one wheel to the alarm part, with a little barrel which) 
(the ftring winds round a few times, and by pulling the little weight winds it 



PLATE 6 



1 






*y ... I 








' ' 


■ / 








/ 


'VKi^i 
















6 






/ . 






- 

■ 

J 

■ 


■ 


i 



SCHEDULE OF CLAIMS FOR PATENT GRANTED TO SIMON WILLARD FOR A TIMEPIECE 

FROM ORIGINAL DOCUMENT 
OF WHICH THE FIRST PAGE IS SHOWN ON PRECEDING PLATE 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 17 

up, the) (little weight hangs outside of the cafe, you have no trouble in open- 
ing any part to) (wind it up. 

The face of the clock is about 5 inches in diameter, with a little dial) 
(in the center, with twelve figures on it; by turning that dial you fet it to the 
hour) (by a point in the hour hand, to the hour you wish to rise. The 
whole of the) (alarm part is entirely new, and very fimple, and it is made upon 
a plan which will not fail in going off. 

The time part by having an intermediate wheel will run eight) (days, 
and the weight only descends 12 inches in the eight days. The whole) (cafe 
is about 15 inches high, and easily moved to any part of the houfe without) 
(putting it out of order. 

The whole of the clock work is inclosed with a handsome glafs) (and 
it is wound up without taking the glafs off, which prevents the dirt from) (get- 
ting into it. The whole plan of the clock I claim as my invention. The) 
(Pendulum is suspended upon and connected with the pivot. 

Witness. Simon Willard. 

William Eliot. 
Robert Fenwick. 

The author has never seen one of these alarm clocks 
made by Simon Willard, but all the other clock-makers of 
his time promptly copied it. He does not appear to have 
ever made very many of them, and they do not appear to 
have been a success, perhaps because people did not like to 
get up early in those days, any better than they do now. 
He also made the machinery for the early Revolving Lights 
of the sea coast. Some of his best work was done in making 
the Church or Turret clocks. In his repair work he altered 
and improved clocks of other makers, so that they were 
better than they were originally. After his Patent of 1802 
was granted, he abandoned the manufacture of the Hall 
clocks almost entirely, and devoted himself to the Timepiece, 
only making the Hall clock on an order. 

In 1801 he made a large clock for the United States 








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20 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

Senate at Washington. As this clock was made on the 
principle that Simon Willard afterwards patented, the author- 
ities did not understand how to run it, and Simon Willard 
was obliged to go to Washington, and show them how to 
run it. While there he was introduced to Thomas Jefferson, 
then President, and the meeting developed into a very strong 
friendship between the two. The letter (Plate 6), explains 
itself; very curiously the bill for this clock has survived. 

These two papers were found in the collection of the 
late Ben Perley Poore. This clock was destroyed when the 
British burned Washington in 1814. The author will observe 
here that no matter whether Simon Willard was making or 
losing on a clock, he put into it his very best in labor and 
material. In 1826, Simon Willard made a Turret clock for 
the University of Virginia, at Charlottesville, Va. It was 
ordered by Thomas Jefferson, who made out the plans and 
specifications, which were sent to Simon Willard, June 4, 
1826. Simon Willard was often heard to say regarding these 
plans and specifications that they were the only ones he 
ever received while in business that were properly made out. 
The measurements were so accurately given and the plans 
so clearly drawn that when he put the clock up, everything 
fitted to the sixteenth of an inch. The correspondence 
about this clock is interesting, and is given below, being 
the original correspondence between Jefferson and Mr. 
Joseph Coolidge, Jr., Boston" (the husband of Ellen Wayles 
Randolph, Jefferson's granddaughter). 

"There stands in the entrance of the Brooks Museum the first bell ever 
From the Alumni Bulletin ot" the University of Virginia. February, 1899. Pages IU-113. 



PLATE 7 

i 







>C*-W ^>ny ,^, r < .^£>*<l ^U* .</*# $£-, ■<- <f6r**<' 









'—-i-- - * 



f£j2p 



LETTER FROM SIMON WILLARD TO HIS WIFE 



PLATE 8 




i&. 






^^J a~~c> Si^i^J v **-**- *.<^x^ «;^», ac^c^^, 




*+ 








MRS. WILLARD TO HER HUSBAND 

REPLY TO LETTER SHOWN ON PRECEDING PLATE 7 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 21 






^/C**^rU> r^t^e) &/&CM. - 






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C7 



*±6f4h^Jrt*~ *.'.'**$ 



used in the University of Virginia, which was ordered by Mr. Jefferson in 1826 
and which did good service for over sixty years. 

Last April, on the 155th anniversary of Mr. Jefferson's birth, his great 
granddaughter, Miss Caroline Ramsey Randolph, granddaughter of his beloved 
daughter, Martha Jefferson Randolph, presented to the University of Vir- 
ginia, through the Albemarle Chapter of the Daughters of the American 
Revolution, the original correspondence between Mr. Jefferson and Mr. 
Coolidge of Boston (the husband of Ellen Wayles Randolph, Mr. Jefferson's 
granddaughter), regarding the purchase of this bell and the clock which re- 
mained in use until its destruction in the fire of 1895. These valuable- 
papers will shortly be placed near the bell, and together they will form inter- 
esting illustrations of this great man's forethought and care for the University 
in the very last days of his life. 

The first of these letters bears the date " Monticello, April 12, 1825," and 
Mr. Jefferson writes thus after speaking of the opening of the University: 
"Your kind disposition towards our University will sometimes I fear be the 
source of trouble to you. We understand that the art of bell-making is car- 
ried to greater perfection in Boston than elsewhere in the United States. We 
want a bell which can generally be heard at the distance of two miles, because 



22 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

this will ensure its being always heard at Charlottesville. As we wish it to 
be sufficient for this, so we wish it not more so, because it will add to its weight, 
price, and difficulty of management. Will you be so good as to enquire what 
would be the weight and price of such a bell and inform me of it ? 



The second of these letters by Mr. Jefferson written 
one year later explains the reasons for the delay in giving 
the final order, and is as follows: 

" Monticello, June 4, 1826. 
DEAR SIR. You have heretofore known that the ability of the Uni- 
versity to meet the necessary expense of a bell and clock depended on the 
remission by Congress of the duties on the marble bases and capitals used 
in our buildings, a sum of nearly $3,000. The remission is granted, and 
I am now authorized to close with Mr. Willard for the undertaking of 
the clock as proposed in your letter of August 25. I must still, however, ask 
your friendly intermediacy because it will so much abridge the labors of 
the written correspondence, for there will be many minutiae which your 
discretion can direct, in which we have full confidence and shall confirm as 
if pre-directed. I have drawn up the material instructions on separate 
papers, which put into Mr. Willard's hands will, I trust, leave little other 
trouble for you. We must avail ourselves of his offer (expressed in same 
letter) to come himself and set it up, allowing the compensation which I 
am sure he will make reasonable. The dial plate had better be made at 
Boston, as we can prepare our aperture for it of sixty inches with entire ac- 
curacy. We wish him to proceed with all practicable dispatch, and are 
ready to make him whatever advance he usually requires, and we would 
rather make it immediately, as we have a sum of money in Boston which it 
would be more convenient to place in his hands at once, than to draw it here 
and have to remit it again to Boston. If it would be out of his line to 
engage for the bell also, be so good as to put it into any hands you please, and 
to say what we should advance for that also. " 

The instructions referred to by Mr. Jefferson in the 
preceding letter were as follows: 

"INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE ARTIST IN 
MAKING THE CLOCK FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. 

"The bell is to weigh 400 lbs., which it is supposed will insure its being 



PLATE 9 



' 



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' &* i &i'\ 

SCHEDULE OF CLAIMS FOR PATENT GRANTED TO SIMON WILLARD FOR AN ALARM CLOCK 
FROM ORIGINAL DOCUMENT IN THE POSSESSION OF THE AUTHOR 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 23 

heard I y 2 miles under any circumstances of weather. The distance of the 
hollow cylinder in which the weights are to descend, and its oblique direction 
from the dial plate has rendered necessary an outline of the ground plat and 
elevation of the parts of the building where it will be placed; this is drawn on 
lined paper, in which every line counts a foot, and every ioth line is more 
strongly drawn to facilitate counting, by which the measures are to be taken 
and not all by scale and compass. The cylindrical space in which the weights 
descend is of 5 ft. diameter and 48 ft. depth, that is to say from the level 
of the center of the dial plate to the ground. The tympanum of the pedi- 
ment, in the center of which the dial-plate is to be placed, is 42 ft. in the 
span,and 9 ft. 4 in. in its perpendicular at the apex, that is to say the naked of 
the tympanum within its cornice. Such a triangle admits a circle of 52 in. 
radius to be inscribed within it, so that describing in its center the dial- 
plate of 30 in. radius, and around that the architrave 10 in. wide, there will 
remain a clear space between the architrave and cornice of the pediment of 
12 in. in the points where they approach nearest. But the dial-plate must 
be as much wider than the 5 ft. which it shows as to fill a rabbet of \ in. at least 
in the back face of the architrave in which it may be firmly imbedded. It must 
be of metal of course, as wood would go too soon into decay. 

"The face of the tympanum will be exactly over the line a, b, and c is the 
center of the cylinder of descent for the weights. The direction of the cord 
it is supposed may be from d to where an aperture in the wall may pass it on 
the pulley or point of suspension, thus requiring but a single change of direc- 
tion. This, however, is for the consideration of the artist. 

"The bell is to be suspended on an iron gallows sufficiently strong 
mounted on the ridge pole of the pediment, perpendicularly over the clock 
works; no ornament is to be given to it, nothing which may attract notice, or 
withdraw the attention of the observer from the principal object, somewhat 
in this simple style. It must be free to be rung independently of the clock. 

"The weights of the striking as well as the going parts descend in the 
same cylinder, but the ringing rope may go down the opposite cylinder at 
f, which is occupied by winding stairs. The winding up of the clock must be 
on the back side of the works within the hollow of the roof. And there also 
means must be furnished of setting the hands." 

Th. J. 

Monticello, June 4, 1826. 

Ten days later Mr. Coolidge sent the following answer: 



24 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

"DEAR SIR. I have seen Mr. Willard, and given him your order for a 
clock and bell. In consequence of my conversation with him on the subject 
sometime since, he procured castings of the principal wheels and made other 
preparations at his own risk, which involved him in some expense, and make an 
advance desirable; at present all he asks is ioo dollars, and the work done 
amply warrants the payment of such a sum. There would be an advantage 
in furnishing Mr. Willard with money from time to time, as it would pre- 
vent his contracting for other work, and enable him to give his whole atten- 
tion to this, in which case the clock would be finished by September ist. 
As for the bell he prefers to select it himself, and thinks one of 400 lbs. large 
enough. The clock he engages shall be inferior to none in the United States, 
and he gladly accepts your offer of permitting him to put it up himself, as 
the accuracy of the movement depends as much upon the skill with which 
it is put together as upon that with which it is made. Independent of his 
merit as an artist, Mr. Willard's great respect for yourself makes one very 
glad that he is to be employed for the University. 

"In February last I wrote to thank you, sir, for the desk on which ' The 
Declaration' was written, but fear that my letter was not received. I men- 
tion it lest you should think me either negligent or indifferent — to which 
charges I plead not guilty. With great respect," 

Joseph Coolidge, Jr. 
Boston, June 15, 1826. 

The sheet containing the plan and elevation of the 
Rotunda where the clock was placed, drawn by Jefferson, 
has survived, and is shown, in Plate 10, largely reduced. 
Unfortunately, Mr. Jefferson did not live to see the clock, 
as he died on the 4th of July following. Simon Willard 
visited Jefferson several times at Monticello, and had many 
ancedotes to relate of his conversations with him. He was 
especially delighted to tell how Mr. Jefferson asked him 
one day to take to pieces a very complicated French clock, 
and put it in running order. While he was so engaged, 
Jefferson talked to him about a very important treaty, then 
pending. Noticing that Mr. Willard did not seem especi- 



PLATE 10 



p< •• £~ A.?* »•»! 




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1 














4 



PLAN OF THE ROTUNDA OF JEFFERSON COLLEGE VA. 
DRAWN BY THOMAS JEFFERSON SIZE OF ORIGINAL 8 x 17 INCHES 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 25 

ally interested in so grave a topic, remarked, " You do not 
seem to be impressed with the importance of this matter, 
Mr. Willard." "Why no," replied Mr. Willard, "I have 
never studied political affairs and really do not understand 
them." Jefferson replied with some impatience, "Why, Mr. 
Willard, every good citizen should be versed in politics 
and be ready with opinions." "Very likely," returned 
Mr. Willard ; " doubtless every man should be learned and 
skilful enough to take up any branch of business that is 
offered to him." Saying which, he rose from the table 
and prepared to depart. "Don't go, Mr. Willard," said 
Jefferson, "until you have put the clock together." "Oh," 
said Willard, "you can do that." "But I cannot," said 
Jefferson. "Ah," said Willard, "you cannot put the wheels 
of a clock together, yet you expected me to know all about 
treaties." The President saw the point, but his answer 
is not recorded. Later on the President took Mr. Willard 
out into his plantation, and cut a sapling which he had 
made into a cane, silver mounted, with an inscription, 
"Thomas Jefferson to Simon Willard, Monticello," and 
the date, and presented it to him. 20 Also Mr. Willard was 
the guest of Ex-President Madison, who treated him with 
the utmost consideration, and also presented him with a 
cane, silver mounted, with the inscription, " Presented by 
James Madison, Ex-President of the United States, to Simon 
Willard, May 29, 1827." From the date on this cane it 
is supposed that Simon Willard visited Madison at the 
time he went to the University of Virginia to put up the 
clock ordered by Jefferson. Madison was then at his plan- 

"Lost or Stolen in 1850. 



26 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 



tation at Montpelier, Orange County, Va., and not many 
miles from Charlottesville, where the University is, and 
Madison probably gave him the cane at that time. These 
two canes were Simon Willard's most treasured possessions. 
He always used one or the other when he went out to 

walk. The cane he is holding 
in his hand in the picture is the 
Jefferson cane. Simon Willard 
was quite prominently connected 
with Harvard College ; he had 
sole charge of the clocks in the 
College for many years. His feat 
in perfecting the great Orrery 
of Mr. Joseph Pope, who after hav- 
ing devoted several months to the 
detection of an error in the con- 
struction, was compelled to aban- 
don it as a failure, was a fine piece 
of mechanical skill. This particular Orrery would work all right 
up to a certain point when suddenly the whole solar system 
would give a tremendous jump, to the despair of its inventor. 
Many skilful mechanics were called in to remedy the 
defect, but all gave it up, and finally Simon Willard was 
appealed to, with the offer of untold sums if he could 
make it run smoothly. Simon Willard looked it over care- 
fully, took out his drill, drilled a hole in a certain place, 
put in a rivet (he always called it a ribbet in telling the 
story) and the Orrery worked to perfection, the whole 
operation not taking over an hour. The authorities were 
delighted. "Now, Mr. Willard," they said, "how much 




Simon Willard and His Clocks 27 

do we owe you." "Oh," said Willard, "about ninepence 
will do, I guess." He often told of this with great delight. 
Simon Willard presented two clocks to the College, 
one, a Hall clock, stands in the Faculty Room (Plate 11), 
and has an inscription in Latin on the dial 

S. Willard 
in U sum Coll. Harv. 
Praesidis Successorumque fecit 

The other is a large Regulator clock (Plate 11) hangs 
on the wall in Room 4, University Hall, and also has a 
Latin inscription. 

Academiae Harvardianae 

Ad Bibliothecam Praesidis Ornandum 

Simon Willard 

qui fecit 

Grato animo donavit 

A.D. XIII Kal Sept. MDCCCXXIX 

Simon Willard was always very proud of his Latin. In 
this Regulator clock was found a paper some years ago, 
a copy of which is given below. 30 

"1829, August 20, Simon Willard of Roxbury, Clock-maker, who for 
more than fifty years had been employed by the Corporation of the Univer- 
sity in the general care and superintendence of the clocks belonging to the 
institution, this day put up in the library of the President for his use and 
that of his successors in office, an elegant clock or regulator, of which he 
asked the acceptance of the Corporation for the use of the President's library, 
as evidence of the givers grateful sense of the favors conferred on him by 
the Corporation and Government of the College. It was voted that the 
thanks of the Corporation be presented to Mr. Willard for this valuable 
and useful present, and that the President communicate to him their sense of 
their favor." 

50 By the courtesy of G. W. Cram. Recorder of Harvard University. 



28 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

This Regulator clock is a very fine specimen of Simon 
Willard's workmanship. Many anecdotes are told of his 
friendship with President Kirkland. 

"He early became a welcome visitor of the Presidents and Professors of 
Harvard College. Indeed he was the familiar friend of five successive 
Presidents of the College." 31 

He also had charge of the clocks of the First Church 
of Roxbury, and made the clocks for the Society. 

"Simon Willard appointed in 1 791 to take care of the church clocks and 
had charge of it for many years." 32 "May 7, 1804, the Parish voted to pur- 
chase only one clock for the inside of the Meeting House until the Pews 
were sold. This clock was made by Simon Willard and is undoubtedly the 
one still in the church." 33 

"In April, 1806, the new clock with one dial was set up in the tower 
of the new meeting house by Mr. Simon Willard who made it at a cost of 
$858. " 31 " Mr. Simon Willard continued to have charge of the clocks in 
1818." 35 

Simon Willard was also a great friend of Josiah Quincy 
(1772-1864). In 1826 he made a Timepiece for Quincy 
who wanted it for a wedding present for his daughter. At 
the time he made this clock, Simon Willard made a bet 
with Quincy that he (Willard) would live to be a hundred 
years old. Quincy took the bet and a document was duly 
drawn up, signed and sworn to, that Messrs. Willard and 
Quincy made a solemn compact by which said Willard 
was to make with his own hands on his one hundreth 
year a Timepiece of the same kind for said Quincy, the 

sl Edward Holden. Boston Evening Transcript. September 4, 1857. 
32 W. E. Thwing. History of the First Church of Roxbury. Page 200. 
33 Ibid. Page 219. 
"Ibid. Page 220. 
S5 Ibid. Page 222. 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 



29 



said Quincy to pay whatever price was demanded by said 
Willard. This compact was frequently spoken of between 
the two friends, and as Simon approached his ninety-sixth 
year, it seemed as if he would win his bet, he only missed 
it by four years. Perhaps at the time of his bet Simon 
Willard had in his mind his Grandmother, Martha (Clark) 
Willard, who died at the age of one hundred, 38 and his 
great Grandfather, Isaac Clark, who died at the age of one 
hundred and two. 37 



30 In Memory of 

the Widow Martha 

formerly wife of Maj Joseph 

Willard who died June 

3, 1794 in the 100th year 

of her age. 

Having had a posterity of 12 

Children. 90 Grandchildren 

& 226 great Grandchildren 

& 53 of the 5th Generation. 



87 Here lyes Buried 

the Body of Cap' 

ISAAC CLARK 

who departed this 

life May 26th 1768. 

Age 102 years. 



Here lyes ye Body 

of Mrs SARAH CLARK 

Wife to Cap 1 

ISAAC? CLARK 

who departed this 

life May 17th 1761. 

Aged 88 years. 



He lived 70 years with the wife of his youth. 
His offspring that defended from him was 251. 



During the course of his long life Simon Willard had 
a large correspondence and received letters from distin- 
guished people from all parts of the country. Of these 
letters he was very proud and at one time lent them to 
Josiah Quincy to read. The letter following explains itself. 

What became of this correspondence which would be 
simply invaluable now, the author is unable to say. In 1837, 
Simon Willard was engaged by the United States Govern- 
ment to make two clocks for the Capitol at Washington. 
These two clocks after being made, were set up and tested 
at his son's (Simon Willard, Jur.), store at No. 9 Congress 

"Grave Stone inscription in old cemetery, Grafton, Mass. 

"From double grave stone in the old cemetery at Framingham Center, Mass. 



30 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

St., Boston, before being packed for shipment. Simon Wil- 
lard went especially to Washington to put them up. One 
(Plate 16) was ordered by Associate Justice Story, 38 and was 
put up in the United States Senate Chamber, afterwards the 
Supreme Court. The other clock was a specially construct- 



£<-^rr C± 



7k 



ed movement for the case of the clock now in Statuary 
Hall, the famous allegorical Clock Case, Clio, the muse of 
History, designed and executed by the sculptor, Carlo Fran- 
zoni, in 1819. This clock (Plates 13 and 14) is familiar to 

s8 Letter from Elliot Woods, Supt. of U. S. Capitol and Grounds, Washington. 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 31 

every sightseer who visits the Capitol. The author quotes 
a letter in regard to these two clocks. 39 

" In reply to yours of the 20th inst. I have to state that I always 
had charge of the clocks in the United States Capitol for over forty years, 
and am thoroughly familiar with the older clocks in use during this time. 
To the best of my knowledge there are but two Willard clocks now in 
the Capitol, one in the Chief Clerk's office of Supreme Court and the other 
in the Franzoni Clock, the latter I have always believed was a specially 
made movement for this case. You may not recall that the present 
Supreme Court was up to 1859 in United States Senate Chamber, and the 
clock now in the Chief Clerk's room is probably one of the two ordered in 
1837, the other being the Franzoni clock now in Statuary Hall, and which 
was at that date, the United States House of Representatives." "P.S. I 
am aware of the fact that the Franzoni Case was made in 18 19, but as 
affairs moved more slowly in those days than at present it is not unlikely 
that the case was laid aside and not used until 1837 when the two clocks 
you refer to were made by Simon Willard." 

These clocks Simon Willard put up himself. While he 
was in Washington he was shown much attention by the 
President (Van Buren) and the various members of Congress. 
A letter from Simon Willard to his son describing this trip 
is given on page 32. 

It is curious that the letters about his first and last 
clocks at Washington, nearly forty years apart should have 
survived, and is about all the correspondence of Simon Wil- 
lard, the author has been able to find. This was almost the 
last important work he was engaged in, and soon after his 
return to Roxbury he began his preparations to retire from 
business. 

Simon Willard's services were constantly in demand for 
the manufacture of Church or Turret clocks, and many New 

"Letter from Mr. Henry C. Karr, Washington, March 30, 1908. 



/tf^^c.iTT^^ 0c\Zj ./\s$y 



/ , 



/ 

/, c7 ^r"/^//^ 0/« /^*- /r^^^^^c-n^f ,/£_^ £xs7J<JU^^ ^ -nor. — 
^ c~^/~ U-^^vj u^~ S3 e- ffrir**-^ /^ern^ /t~lZZ.J J^LAjL.. 










Simon Willard and His Clocks 33 

England Churches had one of them. The author has com- 
piled a partial list of the more important clocks (see pages 
at end of book) but doubtless many have escaped his notice. 
The lapse of so many years, repairs, fires, removals, etc., 
making it very difficult to locate and identify them. About 
December, 1839, he retired from the business in which he 
had worked so long and faithfully. From 1840 to 1843, 
he lived with his son, Simon Willard, Jun., in Boston, 
then for a couple of years he staid at his son-in-law's 
(Edward Bird) place, on Boston St., Dorchester, Mass. 
(now Columbia Road). While staying in Dorchester, he 
often used to walk to Elnathan Taber's (an old friend 
and former apprentice) shop on Taber St., Roxbury, and 
amuse himself by making clocks. Taber's place was about 
a mile and a half distant. 

His remaining years were spent at his daughter's (Mrs. 
Mary Hobart) place in Milton, Mass., and his son-in-law's 
(Isaac Gary) residence in Boston. Simon Willard's facul- 
ties were retained to the end of his life. His sight and 
hearing were unimpaired, and at the age of eighty, 
he read his favorite paper, the Boston Evening Transcript, 
without glasses. He also shaved himself, and without the 
aid of a looking-glass. He always was very proud of his 
ability to go about and look after himself. 

While visiting the old Benjamin 4 Willard homestead this 
summer, the author was told the following story by Mr. 
William Merchant, the present owner of the place. Mr. 
Merchant said that he bought the place from Mr. Henry 
Wesson, who said that when he was a young man about 

'Grafton Vital Records. Page 148. 



34 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

26 or 27 years old, a very old man came to the place, and 
after looking around he approached Mr. Wesson and said 
to him, " My name is Willard. I used to make clocks 
here when I was a young man and I wanted to see the 
place once more before I die, and I have come a long 
way to see it." Mr. Wesson said the old man looked 
around for a while and then went away without saying 
anything more. As Mr. Wesson was born in 1814 this 
would make the date of the visit about 1843 or 1844. It 
is possible that Simon Willard was the one who visited 
the old place. Mr. Wesson died in 1903, aged 89 years, 
4 months. 

A description of Simon Willard at this time, and his 
habits was recently given to the author by one of his 
grandchildren. 

" I recall him distinctly, for though he was about 93 years of age, and 1 was 
only five when we first met (to my recollection). I see now his little figure 
sitting in his own arm chair by the window in Aunt Mary's room at Milton. 
He used to sit in this chair most all day, now and then taking a short pair of 
steps by which he could reach the clock in the room, and opening it would do 
some little thing to it probably from habit, rather than from any fixing the 
clock needed. This clock was one of his own Timepieces. His arm chair we 
have now, the wood work is so beautifully fitted and the style of the chair so 
simple and neat that I often think he must have made it himself. My 
brother tells me that at Milton, Grandfather went to visit Gen. Whitney one 
day, upon coming home, our man Elijah offered to help Grandfather out of 
the team. 'Don't help me out, don't help me out,' said Grandfather, ' they 
will think I am an old man. ' He was then in his 94th year. We moved 
back to Boston, in the fall of 1847, he going with us. He kept his room con- 
stantly after this. Father used to mix Grandfather a rum toddy, and put a 
cracker in it every morning and evening. Grandfather looked forward to these 
times as the events of the day. The morning he died, Father took him in his 
accustomed glass. Grandfather could not drink it, and said to Father, ' the 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 35 

old clock has about run down.' These were his last words, he went to sleep, 
and quietly, and without a sign of distress dozed off into the next life." 

He died at the residence of his son-in-law, Isaac Cary, 
Washington St., Aug. 30, 1848, aged 95 years, 4 months, 27 
days/ He was buried in the old Eustis St. Cemetery at Rox- 
bury, and later his remains were removed to Forest Hills 
Cemetery, where they now lie. 

Like nearly all inventors and geniuses, Simon Willard was 
a very poor business man, and reaped very little benefit from 
his inventions. He never advertised, and was perfectly content 
to wait and let business come to him, thinking evidently 
his reputation was amply sufficient to bring business. He 
allowed his apprentices, and all the other clock-makers of his 
time to copy his Patent Timepiece, or anything he invented, 
and seemingly never thought of prosecuting them for in- 
fringing on his Patent. Had he demanded a royalty from 
them he would have been a rich man. Instead he contented 
himself by haughtily refusing to speak to, or notice the 
offender, which being precisely what they wanted, the 
offenders prospered at his expense. It seems almost pathetic 
to state that after seventy years of incessant work, he retired 
from business with the magnificent sum of $500 to his credit, 
and died a poor man. He made a great mistake in select- 
ing Roxbury as his place of business instead of going into 
Boston. He probably chose Roxbury because rent was low 
there, and he always had a perfect horror of high rents. Had 
he gone to Boston, he would have done much better finan- 
cially, although perhaps his reputation as a clock-maker 
would have been no higher. Simon Willard was a most tire- 

"Gravc Stout, Forest Hills Cemetery. 



36 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 



less worker. He worked twelve and fourteen hours a day. 
He knew nothing about labor unions and eight hours a day 
and probably would not have believed it had he been told. 
He was very jealous of his reputation as a clock-maker, and 
nothing but the very best of material and workmanship was 
put into his clocks, and in making a clock he did not con- 
sider the money side of the transaction at all, he aimed 




to turn out his best work, whether he made a profit or not. 
It is estimated that during the course of his life he made 1200 
eight day clocks, 4000 timepieces, besides machinery for light 
houses, repairing and improving other clocks," etc. It may 
be observed here that Simon Willard, and likewise his brother 
Aaron seemed to be as determined to stay in one location 
as his brothers, Benjamin and Ephraim were to roam about. 

"Edward Holden. Boston Transcript. September +. iS;- 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 37 

Simon Willard and his brothers seemed to have very little 
to do with each other. The author has been unable to 
ascertain that they ever visited each other, or had any busi- 
ness dealings, in their later years at any rate. Z. A. Willard 
states that he heard Simon Willard mention Benjamin Wil- 
lard once, the other brothers never. As a clock-maker 
Simon Willard ranks with the best, and he left as his mon- 
ument a clock that up to the present day, no person has ever 
been able to improve. 



SIMON WILLARD CLOCKS. 

Simon Willard had a genius for clock-making. He was 
an inventor, a natural born mechanic, and a most wonderful 
workman. In these days when everything is made by ma- 
chinery, an account of his methods will perhaps be of interest. 
Of his early clock-making in Grafton, Mass., very little is 
known. That he made clocks there on his own account is 
proved by the existence of little Half or Shelf clocks, called 
by him, thirty-hour clocks, that are occasionally seen, bear- 
ing his name engraved on the dial. Somewhere about 1770, 
or between that time and the time he took up his residence 
in Roxbury, he made a number of thirty-hour clocks. They 
were short, not over twenty-four inches in height, made to 
stand on a shelf and required to be wound every other day. 
Externally they were not always attractive, the cases cheaply 
made of cherry or mahogany. The dials are of brass, 
whether of domestic manufacture or imported, it is hard to 
say, but perhaps domestic. The movement was well made 
and of a design afterwards elaborated into the Patent Time- 
piece of 1802. The movement plates were very close together 
allowing a narrow barrel which could take only enough cord 
to run thirty hours. For some reason the weight was very 
heavy, much heavier than the subsequent eight day clock 
weight. Inasmuch as the movement was very much the 
same as the larger clock, same train, same number of wheels, 
pinions, same pallets, pendulum, etc., it is difficult to see 
where the economy of work came in, unless it competed 
with the tall eight day clock then of universal use, and its 

38 



PLATE 11 









SIMON WILLARD 




HALL CLOCK 


REGULATOR CLOCK 


HALL CLOCK 


OWNED BY 


PRESENTED TO 


OWNED BY 


HARVARD COLLEGE 


HARVARD COLLEGE 


BERNARD JENNEY 


Cambridge. Mass. 


Cambridge. Mass. 


South Boston 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 39 

cheapness made it desirable. It is doubtful if many were 
made, and the makers of wooden clocks in Connecticut 
copied the design and made large numbers of very cheap 
clocks of this kind. The eight day clock of later design 
put them out of the market. The annoyance of having to 
wind a clock daily told against its use and doubtless set the 
inventive mind of Simon Willard in quest of a design that 
eventuated in the eight day Timepiece. A few examples of 
his thirty-hour clocks are shown. One (Plate 15) is about 
twenty-four inches high, ten inches wide, and four inches 
deep. The case is mahogany, the dial brass, with the 
Roman numerals, and has engraved on the dial, " Simon 
Willard." The dial rests on a cherry wood back surrounded 
by an engraved brass frame ; the weight is of lead, very heavy, 
and is recessed at one side at the back, to allow the pendulum 
to swing in ; the pendulum rod is of wood. 

Plate 16 is a striking clock, about twenty inches high, 
seven inches wide, and four inches deep. The case is 
mahogany, the brass dial with a tiny second's hand has 
"Simon Willard, Grafton" engraved on it in a running 
hand. The striking hammer is nicely engraved, but the 
bell is not the original one; the lead weight is heavy, and 
recessed at the back for the pendulum as in Plate 21. Plate 
17 shows by far the most perfect example of this style of 
clock. It is a miniature Hall clock about two feet high, 
and is in absolutely perfect condition. The case is mahog- 
any, very finely made. The weight is in front of the pen- 
dulum but is not recessed at the back. The dial is of brass 
and also has the inscription, "Simon Willard, Grafton." 
There is also a tiny second's hand, the same as the clock 



40 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

in Plate 16. The works arc especially good. Taking the 
clock as a whole, it is a unique specimen of Simon Willard's 
work at this period, and it possibly might have been made 
on an order. Still another examined by the author had a 
1. at in inscription, "all hoc Momento pondet /Eternitas" 
ami the name "Simon Willard" on the brass dial. The 
weight ol this clock shows the scarcity of metals in the 
country at this period, 1770-1780. It consists of rough bars 
ol lead, evidently cast on the premises, mingled with pieces 
of cast or wrought iron, the whole being tied together like 
a bundle ol sticks, making a very crude-looking weight. 

All the movements of these clocks show the nicety of 
finish peculiar to Simon Willard. lie did not make this 
Style ol clock alter settling in Roxbury, devoting himself 
to the tall Hall eight day striking clock, Turret or Church- 
clocks, Gallery clocks, ami general repair work. The author 
has never seen one of his Hall clocks marked "Grafton," 
although Simon Willard is known to have made them there. 
He made all his clocks by hand, and the methods employed 
by him were primitive in the extreme. As no fine steel 
or brass was made in this country, he was forced to import 
all his material from England. A small forge in which he 
heated his steel, a hammer and anvil to reduce it to the 
right size, a file to cut and round up the leaves of the pin- 
ion, and hand polishing, were his methods of shaping and 
finishing the pinions. His brass he was obliged to hammer 
down to the requisite thickness, and also to give it the 
necessary toughness, and (lien finish with the file and polish 
by hand. The wheels of his clocks he prepared with the 
utmost care, hammering the brass with slow and even strokes 



PLATE 12 




SIMON WILLARD 
CLOCK IN THE OFFICE OF THE CLERK OF THE SUPREME COURT 

Washington. D. C. 

BY PKMI5SION 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 



41 



till the utmost degree of toughness was obtained, then with 
the slitting and rounding up file, he cut out the teeth. 

In cutting his wheel teeth, he did not mark out the 
spaces on the blank wheel and cut the 
teeth to measure, but he cut, rounded up, 
and finished the teeth as he went along, 
using his eye only in spacing, and always 



ru 




n O , 






f: 


Q> 


Qu, 


Cm 


Qi 


Oft 


jl 


Cm, 


Q» 


Q» 


. 


III °* 


LL' tJ - t - J 











Old Vise and Tool Chest Used by Simon Willard 

came out even, as accurately, in fact, as the 
wheel cutting machine, which came into use 
years later, could do it. It is doubtful if such a 
feat in mechanics was ever done before, and 
certainly never since. The 'scape wheel of the 
dead beat escapement of the clock must be 
absolutely accurate in the spacing, and it is a 
very difficult piece of work even with a machine 
made for the purpose, but all the 'scape wheels 
and pellets were worked out by hand with no 
assistance, but the eye and touch. Some of the 
escapements are as perfect to-day, and do as 
good service as when they were made a hun- 
dred years ago. Simon Willard used to say in 




42 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

regard to his work, that working alone this way, he could 
turn out complete, an eight day striking clock in six ordinary 
working days. In his latter days, with more and better 
tools, he could probably turn out a Timepiece complete in 
one day, cases excepted of course. Of course in making his 
large turret clock wheels, he could not hammer out the 
brass, the blanks had to be cast, but he filed the teeth out 
from the cast blanks exactly as his smaller clocks. It is not 
known where Simon Willard got his wheel blanks cast, 
or by whom, but there is some reason to believe that at 
one period Paul Revere made some of the castings. As an 
object lesson in file work it is worth while to examine the 
works of one of his clocks; one can but admire the beautiful 
workmanship and finish. In fact, it is a matter of astonish- 
ment that he could do such work even when he was over 
eighty years old. The Turret clock in the Old State House, 
Boston, made when he was 78, the clock made when he was 
82, as a wedding present to his daughter, Sarah Brooks 
Willard (Plate 19) with the following inscription on the case: 

Made 

and 

Presented 

to Mrs. 

Sarah B. Bird 

by 

her father 

Simon Willard 

in his 

Si year 

and the clock made for the Capitol at Washington when he 
was 85, are as beautifully done as any of his early work, 



PLATE 13 




3y Permission 



SIMON WILLARD — FRANZONI CLOCK 

STATUARY HALL. U. S. CAPITOL 

Washington. D. C. 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 43 

and the fact that these clocks are still running is sufficient 
proof of his remarkable skill. He made all his clocks this 
way until very late in life when he occasionally used a 
machine that had been invented in England for cutting out 
wheel teeth. He used to say that not one man in ten 
thousand knew how to handle a file properly. In filing 
clock wheels, the file would be held so as not to touch the 
edges, leaving a slight depression in the centre, a square 
laid across the work should touch both edges, leaving a hollow 
in the middle. Very few, even experts with the file can do 
this, they leave an elevation in the centre. In spite of being 
all file work, the teeth were well made and beautifully propor- 
tioned, all the works finely finished and polished. At no time 
was his assortment of tools very extensive, or for that matter 
was any of the clock-makers of his time. This can be seen by 
the inventory of the tools of his apprentice, Elnathan Taber. 
Taber bought most of Simon Willard's tools when he retired 
from business. It will be noticed the machine for cutting 
wheel teeth is specified. The appraisers seem to have put 
rather a low valuation on the machine. Simon Willard was 
a most careful and painstaking workman and extremely sen- 
sitive about the reputation of his clocks. They were made on 
honor, none but the best of material was used, and a clock of 
his making, that has had good care, is as good today as the 
day it was made. He allowed no piece of work to go out of 
his workshop without passing through his hands, and under- 
going a most exacting inspection. In his tall eight day or 
Hall clocks, the pendulum rod was made of some selected 
wood such as maple, oak, or apple, carefully baked in an oven 
until all moisture was removed, and then given six or eight 



44 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

coats of varnish, each coat being rubbed down. Simon Wil- 
lard never made his pendulum rods for his Hall clocks of 
metal, but as these wooden rods were rather apt to get broken, 
by moving and rough handling it is the exception to find one 
of his clocks with the original wood pendulum rod. When 
broken, a rod of metal was always substituted by the repairer. 
The weights were usually of brass, finely finished and polished 
and weighted with shot. Frequently weights are found made 
of tin, painted black, and filled with lead, occasionally of 
rough cast iron, but these were probably substitutions of a later 
period. 

The dials of both his Hall clocks and Timepieces were 
painted with from eight to ten coats, each coat rubbed down 
until the dial face was like polished ivory. This dial paint- 
ing was a separate trade. Charles Bullard (Boston and Ded- 
ham, 1794-1871) was celebrated for this. Simon Willard made 
the dials of his Hall clocks and Timepieces of heavy sheet iron, 
and once in a while of wood. He made but very few dials of 
brass that the author is aware of. Z. A. Willard states that he 
never saw but one, although it is to be noted he made the dials 
of his little Half or Shelf clocks of brass. The dials of his Hall 
clocks were often very finely decorated (Plate 18). Before he 
employed Charles Bullard, and an unknown English artist, 
the dial decorating may have been done by John R. Penniman. 1 
Simon Willard had the Arabic numerals to indicate the hours 
in his earlier Hall clocks. The later clocks had the Roman 
numerals. The cases for the Hall clocks were carefully made 
of selected well seasoned wood, oak, red and yellow mahog- 
any, or cherry, and were often beautifullv inlaid with satin or 

'R. C. Vol. 34. Page 150. 



PLATE 14 




STATUARY HALL. U. S. CAPITOL. WASHINGTON. D. C. 

FRANZONI CLOCK 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 45 

holly wood. Like the dial painting, clock-case making was a 
separate trade. Henry Willard, Roxbury, Mass. (1802-1887), 
Charles Crane Crehore, Dorchester (1793-1879), and William 
Fisk, Watertown (1770-1844), especially the latter, being no- 
table clock-case makers. The brass ornaments on the hoods of 
his Hall clocks were an urn or vase, or bell and spike, rarely 
being eagles. Like all the other clock-makers of his time 
Simon Willard made the Chime and Musical Clocks. He 
always had bells on his striking clocks, never gongs. If he 
made a Hall clock with a seconds hand, he generally made it 
with the dead beat escapement. This particular movement 
invented by George Graham, England (1673-1751), is very diffi- 
cult to make and most clock-makers of that time made the 
recoil escapement. Plates 11 and 18 show representative types 
of Simon Willard's Hall clocks. Plate 18 is one of his very 
early clocks, the author quotes part of a letter from the present 
owner about it, 2 " It was one of the first clocks set up by Simon 
Willard, he set up the clock himself in Dr. Norwood's house 
in Manchester, Mass." The clock is a very handsome one, 
rather taller than the average of Hall clocks, case of mahogany, 
with brass fluting in the pillars. The dial is a very elaborate 
one, handsomely painted, giving the days of the month, and 
the changes of the moon. Top ornaments are not the original 
ones, and the wooden pendulum rod is lacking. This clock 
was probably sold and put up by Simon Willard in one of his 
peddling expeditions. Plate 11 is a good average specimen. 
On same plate is the clock given to Harvard College by Simon 
Willard. Top ornaments are not original. Plate 18 illustrates 
the finest specimen of Simon Willard's Hall clock the author 

'Letter from Mr. J. T. Needham. North Cambridge, Mass. 



46 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

has ever seen. It is in absolutely perfect condition, with all 
the original parts, even to the wooden pendulum rod, the case 
is a very fine one, handsomly inlaid, dial nicely decorated. 
This clock seems to have had exceptionally good care taken 
of it, and would certainly date from 1800 and perhaps earlier. 

In 1802, Simon Willard brought out his Patent Time- 
piece, which proved an instant success, aside from its 
sterling qualities as a timekeeper, its graceful shape made 
it popular as an ornament, and having painted glass fronts 
gave the glass painters a chance to show their skill, and 
some very beautiful work was done by some of these artists. 
Simon Willard's improvements in his Patent Timepiece 
consisted, First, — In abolishing the striking movements, thus 
reducing the number of wheels to the smallest possible 
number, and thereby making the whole clock movement of 
the utmost simplicity. Second,— Making the distance be- 
tween the movement plates wider, thus allowing sufficient 
cord on the barrel to run eight days. Third, — Placing 
the pendulum in front of the weight thus giving room 
for repair and regulation. Fourth,— The heaviness of the 
weight was somewhat reduced and the weight made longer 
and narrower. Fifth, — The Pendulum and Guide were 
placed in front of the movement. Sixth,— The giving an 
oblong space in the pendulum so that it may swing clear 
of the centre pinion and hour and minute wheel collars. 
Seventh, — The calculation of the train in consequence of 
the shortening of the pendulum. Eighth,— The method of 
securing the pendulum when transporting the clock. Ninth, — 
The shape of the case. All these things were original 
with Simon Willard, and the whole clock was so simplified 



PLATE 15 



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Simon Willard and His Clocks 47 

that after over one hundred years of use, no improvement 
whatever has been made on the original design, a most 
remarkable feat in the history of inventions. Neither has any 
improvement been made in the case, and the whole clock 
is now made on the same lines patented by Simon Willard 
in 1802. Simon Willard had a number of characteristic little 
contrivances on his Timepieces, which are often of assistance 
in identifying his clocks, but it must always be remembered 
that everything he did was always promptly imitated by every 
clock-maker round about. The dial was fastened to the case 
by three little hooks, slotted so as to be turned by a screw 
driver, the door was opened and locked by a catch that could 
be operated by the key that wound the clock, a very neat con- 
trivance, as it prevented children from readily opening the 
door, and playing with the pendulum. The movement was 
fastened to the case by two long screws that passed through 
from front to back, the pendulum bridge was known as 
Willard's T bridge, and as it was a very nice piece of work, 
the other clock-makers generally refrained from imitating it. 
The clock hands were of one pattern of which Plate 23 is a 
good example. The catch for the bezel case may be men- 
tioned also as another little mechanical contrivance. In 
addition there is a peculiar nicety of finish to the movements, 
impossible to describe, that only one thoroughly familiar with 
Simon Willard's work, can identify. The author is obliged 
to confess that this last is beyond him, and when in doubt, he 
is obliged to call on his father, Z. A. Willard, to positively 
identify a doubtful clock movement. It may be remarked 
here that Simon Willard could have patented some of the 
contrivances mentioned above. Of his Patent Timepieces, 



48 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

Simon Willard made three kinds, one, the simplest, having the 
entire case made of mahogany, brass bezel case, brass side 
arms, but without painted front glasses, or a brackett or base 
piece (Plate 17). The case, however, is sometimes finely 
inlaid. The second had a mahogany case, brass bezel case, 
side arms, and with painted glass fronts, and also without a 
base piece. This style was the kind he most commonly made. 
The third was of mahogany, enamelled white, with gilded 
beading, polished brass bezel case and side arms, ornamented 
base piece, and provided with extra painted glass fronts. The 
top ornaments of his Timepieces varied somewhat. Simon 
Willard was very much inclined to a wooden or brass acorn, 
gilded, or a ball and acorn leaves. (Plate .17) He never used 
the spread eagle. 

Simon Willard got hold of an Englishman, an artist, and 
employed him to paint the glass fronts of his Timepieces, and 
the decorative work on the dials of his Hall clocks. He had to 
pay him from $10 to $20 a pair for the glasses, a very high price 
for those days, but the man was a genuine artist, and his paint- 
ing was a real work of art. The design was a combination of 
arabesque and scroll work, with cross hatching, done in gold 
leaf on a white ground. It resembled the finest lace work, and 
was exquisitely done, and it is very doubtful if it could be 
successfully imitated today. The artist, whose name has un- 
fortunately been lost, died or moved away about 1828. Speci- 
mens of his best work are very rare. This artist had an 
apprentice, Charles Bullard, who although he did very fine 
work, never quite equalled the work of his master. A Simon 
Willard Timepiece, with painted glass fronts, decorated dial, 
case and base piece enamelled and gilded, polished brass side 



PLATE 16 



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Simon WlLLARD and His Clocks 49 

arms and bezel case and top ornament, was a very handsome 
piece of work, and also a very costly thing for those days, and 
Simon Willard only made them on an order. The author 
regrets he has been unable to find one of these clocks for the 
purpose of illustration. 

When a daughter of one of Boston's Four Hundred mar- 
ried, it was considered the proper thing to give her one of 
these clocks (called Gift or Presentation clocks) for her dining 
room, and they never cost less than $80, but as years rolled on, 
came other times and other clocks, these beautiful clocks 
were contemptuously called kitchen clocks, and relegated to 
the kitchen, where the heat and fumes of cooking soon played 
havoc with them, being particularly destructive to the enamel 
of the dials. Probaby the most beautiful Timepiece ever made 
by Simon Willard was ordered by Josiah Quincy (1772-1864) 
for a wedding present for his daughter. The case of mahog- 
any was finished off in white enamel with gold beading, base- 
piece the same. The glasses were wonderfully artistic, 
painted by the English artist whose name has not come down 
to us. On the dial inside of the hour numbers was painted a 
garland of roses and cherubs, and outside of the hour numbers 
was an inscription " Made for (name of the bride), 1826, by 
Simon Willard, Roxbury." 

Another timepiece, similar to the above, but with a dif- 
ferent inscription, was made fifteen or twenty years before, 
by Simon Willard, for Josiah Quincy for his own use. Care- 
ful inquiry among the members of the Quincy family has 
failed to reveal the whereabouts of these Timepieces, supposing 
them to be in existence. Plate 19 is the nearest approach to 
the Presentation or Gift clock that the author has been fortu- 



50 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

nate enough to find. Its history is, that it was a wedding 
present to Capt. John White of Randolph, Mass., who married 
Vesta Dunbar of South Bridgewater, Mass., in 1797, and is 
now the property of his great grandson Dwight M. Prouty of 
Chestnut Hill, 3 Mass. The case, side arms, base-piece, bezel 
case and dial are original, as is also the door glass. The nar- 
row glass front is a reproduction of the original glass which was 
badly cracked, the gilding has been a trifle overdone in restor- 
ing. The spread eagle is not the original ornament, but was 
carved and put on by his son, Warren White. 

The clock movement is wonderfully fine. It will be 
noticed that the painted glass fronts closely resemble those of 
Plate 21. Who the artist was who painted these glasses it is 
impossible to say, except that it is not the English artist's 
work, but the whole clock is a very fine specimen of Simon 
Willard's best work. The only things lacking are the English 
artist's lace-work design glass fronts and the decorated dial. 
This English artist only made the lace-work pattern for the 
Gift or Presentation Clocks. He painted other and less elab- 
orate designs for the glass fronts of the cheaper Timepiece. 
The patterns were simple but very striking, the long glass 
front generally had a spray of flowers running down the centre 
of the glass, or oak leaves and acorns, cherry leaves and cher- 
ries, or a conventional design (Plate 21) done in gold leaf on 
a white ground. (See Plates 21 and 22.) The door glasses 
had either stripes of gold and black on a white ground (Plate 
22), gold and green stripes (Plate 21), gold and red or pink 
stripes (Plate 19), or gold and black stripes on a blue ground 
(Plate 21). The ground color of this last example is very 

'From information given by Mr. Dwight M. Prouty, Chestnut Hill, Mass. 



PLATE 17 



[ . I 




MINIATURE HALL CLOCK 

OWNED BY 

ARTHUR W. WELLINGTON 
Boston. Mass. 



SIMON WILLARD 



TIMEPIECE PRESENTED TO HIS DAUGHTER 

OWNED BY 

THE MISSES BIRD 
Dorchester 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 51 

exceptional. The centre of the door glasses had a diamond 
or square shaped space to show the pendulum ball. This was 
often finished off with a delicate cross hatching of gold and 
black. The design (Plate 20) is a very unusual one for one of 
Simon Willard's glass fronts, and the author is inclined to 
assign it to some outside artist. The work is not suggestive of 
either the English artist or Charles Bullard. The ground 
color of the door glass is yellow, the classic head is in gold 
leaf. The author has only seen two examples of this design. 
Charles Bullard, the apprentice of the English artist, carried 
on the work, and painted the same designs for Simon Willard, 
for the author has never seen these particular designs on any 
other clock maker's Timepieces, with the possible exception 
of Elnathan Taber, as the glasses on his Timepiece (Plate 35) 
seem to be Bullard's work. 

With the exception of his Gift or Presentation clocks, 
Simon Willard never used gilding on his Timepieces. Simon 
Willard made a large Timepiece called a Regulator clock, for 
Banks, Offices and Observatories. Most of the old Boston 
Banks had had one of these Regulator clocks, a few of which 
survive. They were very finely finished, and had polished 
brass weights, and as a rule, solid mahogany cases. A very 
fine specimen of his Regulator clock is in the basement of the 
Provident Savings Bank, Temple Place, Boston, Mass., an- 
other in Room 4, University Hall, Harvard University (Plate 
11). He also made a Gallery clock for Churches and Public 
Buildings, and Turret clocks for Church steeples. His Gal- 
lery clocks were fine pieces of work, the whole case was full 
gilded, the pendulum case had a finely painted glass front, 
and on the top of the clock was a large carved gilded eagle 



52 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

with outspread wings holding in its beak two strings or fes- 
toons of gilded balls or beads. The gallery clock in the First 
Church in Roxbury, Mass., is a beautiful specimen of this 
particular style of clock (Plate 23), and the door glass is 
undoubtedly the English artist's work. Another Gallery 
clock almost identical is in the Second Church of Dorchester, 
Mass. These large Regulator clocks were made with the 
dead beat escapement, and very often the Timepieces. 

Simon Willard always had good taste in the make up of 
his clocks, particularly in his Timepieces. In fact, their 
simple elegance always strikes the critical observer. Like all 
other clock-makers, Simon Willard occasionally made a freak 
clock. He attempted a forty day clock. It had a mahogany 
case about eighteen inches high, with brass feet, on the Half 
clock model, fitted with a small brass dial, and a very heavy 
weight, the whole idea was bad, as the weight being so heavy 
and having such a short distance to fall, it called for a great 
many teeth on the wheels, and a great many leaves on the 
pinions, which could not stand the strain and the whole 
mechanism wore out quickly. He made another on the same 
plan with striking attachment, surmounted with a bell glass 
with a knob to lift off. It was known as the Eddystone Light 
House clock from its shape (Plate 24), and was not a success. 
Very few of either of these clocks were ever made. These 
clocks are mentioned simply to show how inventors incline 
to complicated machinery. 

It was the custom of the clock-makers of old times to spend 
their winters making clocks, and as soon as the roads were 
good in the spring, would load these clocks on a wagon, 
and ride around the country peddling their clocks, and at the 



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SIMON WILLARD — HALL CLOCKS 

OWNED BY 

J. T. NEEDHAM 
North Cambridge Mass. 



OWNED BY 

HENRY B. MARTIN 
Milton. Mass. 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 53 

same time turning an honest penny repairing and regulating 
such clocks as they found out of order along their route. 
Simon Willard had his beat along the North Shore, Aaron 
Willard along the South Shore. It would be interesting to 
know how they managed to take a load of clocks without 
damage over such poor roads as were then in existence. The 
author has traced Simon Willard in his peddling expeditions 
as far as Bangor, 4 Me. He seems to have stopped this way of 
selling clocks about 1805. 

■Statement of Z. A. Willard who heard Simon Willard once say he went to Bangor, selling clocks. 



CORRECTION OF ERRORS 
REGARDING THE LIFE AND WORK OF 
SIMON WILLARD. 



So many and persistent errors have grown up respecting 
Simon Willard, his brothers, and his clocks, that the author 
has thought it advisable to devote a chapter for the purpose 
of correcting them. It has been asserted so often that it has 
received general credence from all who have interested them- 
selves in the matter that Simon Willard had as partners, his 
brothers Aaron and Benjamin. He had apprentices, many of 
them, whom he instructed in his own careful painstaking 
way, but he never had a partner. He could not have had his 
brother Benjamin, for when Benjamin came to Roxbury in 
1771, Simon, who was still serving his apprenticeship, was 
only seventeen years old, and would not attain his freedom 
till he was twenty-one, which would be in 1774. An appren- 
tice could, however, buy his freedom and it is quite possible 
Simon did so, for we find clocks with his name on them, thus 
"Simon Willard, Grafton." Unfortunately there is no date 
to any of them. There is a family story derived apparently 
from Simon Willard, after he had retired, that having made 
with his own hands, without assistance, a complete eight day 
striking clock, he grew impatient of serving and purchased 

his time. 

In 1776, we find Simon Willard, still in Grafton, married, 
and in business, while Benjamin seems to have left Roxbury 
during the early years of the Revolution, as we find no men- 
tion of him there after 1774. Moreover, Benjamin, in his 

64 



PLATE 19 



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SIMON WILLARD 



PRESENTATION TIMEPIECE 



OWNED BY 

DWIGHT M. PROUTY 
Chestnut Hill 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 55 

various advertisements in the newspapers makes no mention 
of a partner. That Simon Willard was in business with his 
brother Benjamin may be dismissed as utterly improbable. 
Simon Willard came to Roxbury in 1780, and lived in the 
same house there, until his retirement in 1839. There was 
his shop, all his business was transacted there, and his family 
born and raised, and in his very rare clock advertisement (Plate 
4) he always speaks of himself, and no partner is ever men- 
tioned, all of which effectually disposes of the story that he 
was in partnership with his brothers Benjamin and Aaron. 
It may be mentioned here that Aaron Willard never speaks 
of a partner. 

Another error that has crept in of late years, is that the 
Willard brothers came from England. It has been stated 
as fact by several writers, and many times in the newspapers, 
that Benjamin, Simon, and Aaron were born in England, 
served their apprenticeship in clock-making there, and came 
to the Colonies, settling in Roxbury, Mass., when they were 
young men. It is very puzzling to know how such an error 
originated, especially when the Grafton, Mass., Records are 
so accessible, unless people confused Grafton, Mass., with 
Grafton, England, there being several places of that name 
there, and mistook Simon' Willard, the founder of the family 
in America, for Simon 5 Willard. This last is likely to be the 
case, as the author was at one time shown a clock which the 
owner solemnly assured him, was brought over in 1634 by 
Simon 1 Willard, the clock-maker. The genealogical notes 
and documentary evidence given inother chaptersare sufficient 
to refute the absurdity of this story. 

It has also been asserted that Simon Willard made 



56 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

wooden clocks. Never at any period of his life did Simon 
Willard, or any of his brothers, make other than brass clocks. 
The Willards of Ashby, Mass., made wooden clocks, and 
doubtless people have confused them with Simon Willard. 
It is also claimed that Simon Willard was not the inventor 
of the Timepiece. The best possible proof is the patent 
issued to him in 1802, and nothing further need be said about 
it. It speaks for itself. Still another mistake is made in 
calling this Patent Timepiece, a Banjo Clock. This is an 
error of recent years. It is called a time-piece in the patent, 
advertised as a timepiece, and sold as such, and how or when 
the name originated, it is hard to say. Britten in his book 
makes this mistake. 1 

Then a vast amount of confusion exists as to the name 
on the dials of Simon Willard's clocks. On the dials of his 
Hall clocks he put, in a running hand, his name, "Simon 
Willard, Roxbury," or " S. Willard, Roxbury," never Boston. 
Sometimes he had his name engraved on the seconds hand 
of his Hall clocks, instead of on the dials, but it was rarely 
done. The author has only found two instances of it. Oc- 
casionally among his early Hall clocks is found the name 
11 Simon Willard " in capital letters instead of in a running 
hand, and in one instance, the name was in old English 
lettering (Plate 18). He never had his name on the dial of 
his Timepieces, that the author is aware of, except the Gift 
clocks, which would read: " Made by Simon Willard, Rox- 
bury, for " On the dials of his large Regulator clocks 

he sometimes put his name " Simon Willard." Occasionally in 
his later years, when engaged on a large clock he was some- 

'1'. ]. Britten. Old Clocks anil Watches anil their Makers. 2nd. Edition. l'a»p 718. 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 57 

times assisted by his sons, then he would put the name 
"Simon Willard and Son" on the dial, but it was very rarely 
done. Two only marked thus have come under the author's 
notice. One is the large Regulator clock in Room 4, Uni- 
versity Hall, Harvard University, the other is the " Franzoni 
Clock" in Statuary Hall, U. S. Capitol, Washington, D. C, 
and these might mean either of his sons, Simon, Jr., or 
Benjamin F. Willard. On the glass door fronts of his 
Timepieces he had the words: " S. Willard's Patent," in 
a running hand or capitals, beautifully done in gold leaf. 
Occasionally he had the words: "Willard's Patent" without 
the initial "S," on the door glass. Such instances are rare, 
and seem to belong to his earlier Timepieces, perhaps before 
he employed the Englishman and Charles Bullard. This 
was imitated by other clock-makers, but for some reason, 
probably because they did not dare to imitate too closely, 
rarely put it on the door glass, rather putting it on the narrow 
glass front, and this work was very poorly done, the lettering 
being painted in most cases, instead of being in gold leaf, 
and having only the words: "Willard's Patent." 

A word of explanation is necessary here in regard to the 
designs on the glass fronts of Simon Willard's Timepieces. 
He never used the design of a naval battle, American flag 
and eagle, or a landscape. These designs were peculiar to 
the Aaron Willards and other clock-makers. Simon Willard 
employed two persons only, that, the author is certain of, 
the Englishman and Charles Bullard, and the designs were 
such as are shown in Plates 19,20, 21, and 22. In the course 
of time owing to accidents, etc., many of the glass fronts of 
his clocks got broken and the owners had to put in new 



58 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

glasses, which were the designs used by the Aaron Willards, 
etc., as no artist seemed to be able to imitate the work of 
the Englishman and Charles Bullard. Of course this sub- 
stitute work takes away largely from the value of a Simon 
Willard Timepiece. The use of brass spread eagles as 
ornaments on Simon Willard's Timepieces and Hall clocks is 
a certain indication of their not being the original ornaments. 
Simon Willard used the acorn on his Timepieces. The brass 
spread eagle is of much later date, being imported by a firm 
in Dock Square, Boston, and sold in great quantities, so when 
the original ornament on a Willard Timepiece was lost, the 
brass eagle was almost universally used to replace it. 

After Simon Willard retired from business in 1839, El- 
nathan Taber, his best apprentice, bought most of his tools, 
and the good-will of the business; continuing the clock- 
making. He received permission to put the name " Simon 
Willard " on the dials of the clocks he made. As he made 
a most excellent clock, Simon Willard, Jr., took all he could 
make, and sold them at his store at No. 9 Congress Street, 
and all clocks sold from there had the name "Simon Willard, 
Boston" or "Simon Willard and Son, Boston," on the dial. 
A Timepiece Taber made had glass fronts painted to imitate 
mahogany. These were sold for $16.00 and were so popular 
that Simon Willard, Jr., took all Taber could make. All this 
has resulted in a great deal of confusion, many people think- 
ing they had a Simon Willard, Sr., Timepiece, when it was 
really one of Taber's. It is very doubtful whether Simon 
Willard ever made the striking Timepiece. There is no 
record that he ever did so. Z. A. Willard states that he never 
saw or heard of one, although it is barely possible he might 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 59 

have made them on an order. He never did so on his own 
account. The principle was against the simplicity of his 
patent and striking Timepieces are continually getting out 
of order. Furthermore, the name " Willard " on a clock is 
no proof that Simon Willard made it. 

As early as 1780 his reputation was so high that other 
clockmakers put the name "Willard" on their clock dials, 
very much as the Dutch clock-makers put the names of cele- 
brated English clock-makers, such as Tompion, Quare, Lamb, 
etc., on their clock dials. 2 The clock thus marked might be, 
and very often was, a good one, but Simon Willard never 
made it. The author has found several instances of this kind. 
Simon Willard clocks, both Hall and Timepieces, have been 
counterfeited innumerable times, and it requires a thorough 
knowledge of the peculiarities of his workmanship to detect 
the fraud. Counterfeits are often made by taking an old 
Howard clock movement, having a case made for it, and by 
judicious smoking, given the appearance of age; then having 
glass fronts painted, the whole is put together, and sold as 
a genuine Simon Willard clock. 

Just here the author desires to call attention to the very 
mistaken method of restoring Willard Timepieces. The 
practice nowadays in repairing them, is to cover the entire 
front of the case with a heavy coat of gilding, add an elabo- 
rately ornamented base piece or bracket, also heavily gilded, 
insert new front glasses, even if the original ones are whole. 
A spread eagle is put on for a top ornament. Thus restored the 
clock is a blinding mass of gilding, very gorgeous certainly, 
but overdone. This is all wrong, and the fashion is one to 

'Britten. Old Clocks and Watches and their Makers. 2nd. Edition. Page 546. 



60 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

be deplored. The Timepiece was never that way originally. 
Simon Willard, and the Aaron Willards, never used gilding 
in such reckless profusion, and would be vastly astonished if 
they could see their "restored " clocks. Such elaborate gild- 
ing never entered into their calculations, there was no demand 
for it, and it would have made their Timepieces much too 
expensive for their customers of those days, who wanted 
moderate priced clocks. The author's father, Z. A. Willard, 
states positively that during the entire time he was in the 
clock business from 1840 to 1870, during which period hun- 
dreds of clocks were brought in for repairs to his store at No. 
9 Congress Street, Boston, he never saw a Willard Timepiece, 
or any of the old clock-makers' Timepieces, gilded, as the 
restored Timepieces are today. When and how the fashion 
for gilding originated, it is hard to say, except that it is recent. 
Why people should want Timepieces "restored" this way, is 
a puzzle. If the "restorer" would confine his efforts to keep 
the Timepiece as near as possible to the original, the result 
would be more satisfactory, and in better taste. Simon Wil- 
lard in his Gift Clocks used gilding in moderation, and the 
Aaron Willards had only a narrow beading gilded, on their 
best clocks (Plate 20). 

A little may be said here about clock glasses, and the 
artists that painted them. The author is not certain whether 
Simon Willard originated the idea of painted glass fronts for 
clocks, or if he got his idea from seeing the paintings on 
looking glasses. At all events, the custom does not seem to 
have become prevalent until some time after the Revolution. 
After that period, a number of artists, miniature picture, and 
ornamental painters came to the United States, a number 




PLATE 20 




TIMEPIECES 



SIMON WILLARD 

OWNED BY 

R H MAYNARD 
Boston 



AARON WILLARD 

OWNED BY 

Z. A. WILLARD 
Brookline 



PLATE 22 





SIMON WILLARD — TIMEPIECES 

OWNED BV ""-w l—<J 

FRANCIS H. BIGELOW owned by 

Cambridge. Mass PATRICK MEANIX 

Roxbury. Mass. 



PLATE 21 





SIMON WILLARD — TIMEPIECES 



OWNED BV 

THE AUTHOR 



OWNED BV 

Miss THEODORA WILLARD 
Cambridge. Mass 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 61 

settling in and around Boston. It is not easy to identify them 
in the old Boston Directories, the description being very 
indefinite, merely giving the occupation as painter, leaving 
the reader in doubt whether the person was an artist or only 
a house painter. 

Drake 3 says that a John Ritts Penniman was at one time 
employed by Simon Willard to paint for him. Information 
about this Penniman is very limited. Drake 1 says he lived in 
Roxbury, and had his shop where Webster Hall now stands. 
When he was born and where he came from, the author is 
unable to ascertain. There is nothing about him in the Rox- 
bury or Boston Records. He moved to Boston in 1806/ where 
he lived principally at 57 Warren Street, giving his name as 
John R. Penniman, painter, or ornamental painter, until 1828 
when his name ceases to appear, leaving one in doubt whether 
he died or moved away. He appears to have been a friend or 
associate of Gilbert Stuart, the artist, for in the records of the 
Hollis St. Church" is found an entry giving the death of 
"Gilbert Stuart Penniman, son of John Ritto Penniman, 
Oct. 11, 1812," no wife mentioned. Whether Drake or the 
Hollis Street Church Record gives Penniman's middle name 
correctly the author is unable to say, and is also unable to 
identify any of the work Penniman is said to have done for 
Simon Willard. 

Mention has also been made in previous pages of an 
English artist that painted clock glasses for Simon Willard. 

•R.C.Vol.34. Page 150. 

•Ibid. 

'Boston Directory for 1806. 

•Hollis St. Church Records. Deaths. 1812. Page 285. Manuscript Copy. City Clert't 
Office, Boston. 



62 Simon Wii i \ro and His Clocks 

The most rigid search has tailed to ascertain his name, 
although there is a possibility that it was the Robert Fenwick 
whose name appears as witness on the Simon Willard's patent 
(Plate 9). The author has been unable to find any mention of 
this Robert Fenwick in the Roxbury or Boston or Dorchester 
Records. The most that can be said is that he came to Rox- 
bury some time alter the Revolution, and became acquainted 
with Simon YYillard, who, knowing a good thing when he 
saw it, employed him to paint clock glasses for him, and it is 
possible that the Englishman might have suggested to Simon 
Willard the idea oi decorating clocks with painted glasses. 
Certainly the man was an artist ol merit, and his work was 
very beautiful. Plate 22 is without doubt an example of li is 
work. Unfortunately the photograph does not show the 
beauty of the wink. His finest work was done on the Gift or 
Presentation Clocks. 

The author's lather, X. A. Willard, states that one day a 
clock came into the store at No. 9 Congress St. for repairs, 
and he was much impressed with the extreme beauty of the 
painted glasses, and asked his grandfather, Simon Willard, 
who painted them. "Oh," said Willard, "those are the old 
Englishman's glasses." being only a boy at the time he never 
thought to ask his grandfather the name ol the artist, and has 
frequently lamented that he failed to o\o so. The finest work 
the artist ever did was on the Quincy Clocks in 1826, before 
alluded to (see Page 49). This was the last work done, Z. A. 
Willard states, that he is certain oi, and thinks the artist died 
not long alter, about 1S2S. Can it be possible that John R. 
Penniman and the English artist were one and the same per- 
son? This artist doubtless had many apprentices, but only 



PLATE 23 




SIMON WILLARD 

GALLERY CLOCK 

FIRST CHURCH OF ROXBURY 

ROXBURY. MASS. 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 63 

one is absolutely identified, Charles Bullard, who never 
quite approached the perfection of his master's work, 
although in the painting of clock dials he was a past 
master. When so many clock-makers were in business in 
Roxbury and Boston between 1800 and 1844, it is not pos- 
sible that all the glass painting was done by Charles Bullard 
and the English artist. There were many others, and some 
of them were good ones, but the author cannot identify 
any of them with certainty. 

John 8 Mears Willard, the eighth son of Simon 5 Willard 
and his second wife, Mary (Bird) Willard, was an artist and 
excelled as a copyist. His skill in this respect was extraor- 
dinary. He might possibly have painted glasses for his father, 
but he died so young he did not accomplish enough to give 
him a name or reputation. The author has never seen any 
specimens of his work. Lewis Lauriat is said to have done 
something in this line. At first, the artists used a landscape 
design (Plate 32), a classical figure (Plate 20), American 
Flag, etc. The war of 1812 was a great windfall for the 
artists, and the fight between the Constitution and the Guer- 
riere was painted in endless variety, and some were very fine 
specimens of this class of work. Plate 35 is one of the best. 
The naval battles of Lake Erie and Lake Champlain were 
sometimes painted but owing to the large number of vessels 
required they were not so popular with the artists. The Lake 
Champlain painting is much sought after. 

As before stated Simon Willard never used landscapes 
or figures on his clock glasses, but adhered to the designs 
illustrated in the preceding pages. He must have had some 
special arrangements with Bullard and the English artist for 



64 SIMON WlLLARD AND HIS CLOCKS 

the exclusive use of these designs, for the author has never 
found them on any other make of Timepiece. About 1850, the 
clock glass painting seemed to decline in quality for some rea- 
son, and between that date and 1872, the art was at a very low 
ebb, the work turned out being atrocious. Z. A. Willard 
states that the work was so bad that the Timepieces made for 
his store had to have the glass fronts painted in imitation of 
mahogany, owing to the lack of good artists. 



PLATE 24 




SIMON WILLARD 
EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE* CLOCK 



SIMON WILLARD, JR. 
WEST POINT. CLASS OF 1815. NO. 125. 

Simon" Willard, Jr., the subject of this sketch, the second 
son of Simon and his second wife, Mary (Bird) Willard, 
was born in Roxbury, January 13, 1795.' He inherited his 
father's mechanical faculty to a remarkable degree. A very 
notable instance of his ability as a mechanician was exhibited 
in his extraordinary feat of mastering in eighteen months 
of New York apprenticeship, so complex and delicate a 
business as the manufacture and repairing of marine chro- 
nometers and watches. 
While he never made 
clocks, it was because fac- 
tories were making clocks 
in such quantities, and 
competition had become 
so keen that there was no 
money in the business. Had 
he done so, however, he 
undoubtedly would have 
had as great a reputation as 
his father. His boyhood 
was a hard one. In his 
late years, he was very 
much disinclined to speak 
of his early days. He had to work hard, early and late, and was 
insufficiently clothed. He particularly described how he used 
to suffer from the cold during the winters. He said once to 

'Roxbury Births. 1632 to 1844. 

65 




66 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

a friend who spoke to him about the good old times, " I do 
not want to hear or speak about the good old times. I lived 
in them, and know they were nothing but hardship and 
suffering." No better idea of his life can be given perhaps 
than in his own words, taken from an article written by him- 
self in 1872. He says, 

"Till the age of ten years, I had no regular education, but such rudi- 
ments as could be picked up at home, or at primary schools with the aid 
of the New England Primer. At the age of ten I went to the Public 
Grammar School of Roxbury, kept by Dr. Prentiss, stayed there four 
years. The youths of that day were not troubled with over education. 
Such knowledge as was given them was riveted to their memories by the 
rod and ferule. Moral suasion was not part of the educator's plan. The 
only School books used were the Columbian Orator, American Preceptor, 
Murray's Grammar, not the unabridged, but a matter of ten pages, Pike's 
Arithmetic and Morse's Geography. Left school at the age of 14 years 
and entered my father's shop, and worked at clock-making for a time till I 
was apprenticed to a watch maker by the name of Pond in Portsmouth, 
N. H., with whom I stayed till the war of 1812 was declared. Pond failed 
in 1 812 and I came home and stayed with my father till 18 13, when I met 
a fellow townsman named George Blaney who asked me how I should like 
to go to West Point. The idea meeting favor we both got cadet warrants 
through General Heath of Roxbury, a General who served in the Revolu- 
tionary Army, and had some influence in Washington. " 

His life and experiences at West Point will doubtless 
seem very primitive to the modern West Point Cadet, and his 
description may prove interesting. 

"When I entered in 18 13, was eighteen. No examination necessary, 
received warrant from Secretary of War and was ordered to report at West 
Point. No oath of Allegiance required. It would be difficult to recognize 
the West Point of 1813 in the West Point of 1872. The families of such of 



PLATE 25 





SIMON WILLARD. JUNIOR BENJAMIN F. WILLARD 

ASTRONOMICAL CLOCKS 



OWNED BY 

HARVARD OBSERVATORY 
Cambridge. Mass 



OWNED BY 

F. G. MACOMBER 
Boston. Mass 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 67 

the Professors as were married resided in West Point in private houses. The 
town of West Point had no existence. There was a small country store at 
Buttermilk Falls where Cadets sometimes made purchases. Cadets were 
allowed two rations of twenty cents each per day and $28.00 per month, 
and had to find themselves in food and clothing. Four of us attempted to 
keep house in order to economize, the attempt failed. Reported at West 
Point about September 1, 1813. Stay at West Point was not continuous as 
the Cadets at that time were dismissed for the Winter there. Passed the 
Winter of 1813 in New York City. Passed Winter of 18 14 in West Point 
in company with one cadet named James R. Stubbs, suffered very much from 
cold, had to lie on the floor wrapped in blankets, and our feet to the fire. 
Our fires were made from rail fences and such dry stuff as we could find in 
the neighboring woods. We had to cut and haul it ourselves and sometimes 
pack it on our backs. We had to forage for a living. It was very difficult to 
obtain food, we had to buy it of the neighboring farmers and cook it our- 
selves. It was a very hard Winter. 

"In 1814 being desirous of making some fireworks for the 4th of July, 
I applied to Captain Partridge for permission to make some. After inform- 
ing him what I knew about fireworks he acceded to the request and I 
went to work assisted by Cadets Eveleth, Talcott, and Partridge, nephew 
of the Superintendent. We took possession of the Laboratory, a small 
wooden building standing where the Mess House does now, and containing 
three kegs of powder and a great number of cartridges for muskets and 
cannon. We prepared rocket composition which Talcott was ramming into 
the cases, when to our inconceivable horror, it took fire. The celerity with 
which we abandoned that position would have won us great fame in a 
larger field, and the small space occupied by our bodies during our 
flight would have made the fortune of an acrobat. Finding after limited 
flight, that West Point and all thereunto appertaining was not blown into 
the Hudson, we stopped, turned back and extinguished the fire with a 
few buckets of water, but the risk was very great. Young Partridge made a 
detour of three or four miles and brought up in his Uncle's cellar where he 
was found some hours afterwards nearly dead with terror. That particular 
4th of July was never celebrated. 



68 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

"Graduated March 2nd, 1815, left September, 1815. Commissioned 
in 1 8 15 in the ordnance Corps and ordered to the Pittsburg Arsenal on the 
Alleghany River, Pa. Post in command of Major Abram R. Wooley. My 
first introduction to the service was seeing Major Wooley and Captain 
Wade eject a man from the U. S. Premises. The individual not having an 
overwhelming respect of military authority of the United States, drew a 
pistol and blazed away at the Major, who in return, drew his sword and 
made a frantic lunge at the Philistine, but unfortunately with more wrath 
than judgment, so that his weapon passed through Captain Wade's hand. 
The rage of the combatants being abated by the accident, the individual 
was allowed to retire with all the honors of War. The duties of the post 
consisted in inspecting and proving cannon and inspecting shot and shell, 
all of which were made at the Pittsburg Foundry, also inspecting powder, 
much of which was damaged, but dried and re-vamped so as to be nearly 
as good as new. We distributed these arms and the ammunition through 
the West to all Government forts and our posts. At this time an Armory 
was building and a repair shop for small arms. 

"Arrived in Pittsburg in September, 1815, and sent in my resignation 
in May, 1816. Resignation accepted and I left the post the same month. 
Major Wooley was very anxious I should remain in the service, but I did 
not find it congenial to my taste. The war was ended, there was no active 
employment of officers, the post was very dull, the daily routine irksome, 
promotion would necessarily be very slow, and I thought I could satisfy 
myself better in some other occupation. Returned to Roxbury at age of 21. 
In 181 7 went into the crockery ware business in Roxbury and continued 
in it until 1824 when I failed. Settled with my creditors payings cents on 
the dollar, and my notes for the balance, with interest added. These notes I 
paid out of my subsequent earnings as watchmaker." 

"December 6th, 1821, I married Eliza Adams, eldest daughter of 
Zabdiel Adams of Roxbury. Seven children were the result of this marriage, 
two now survive." 

Simon Willard, Jr., married December 6th, 1821, 2 Eliza 

•Roxbury Marriages. 1632 to i860. 



PLATE 26 




FROM A PAINTING ON IVORY IN POSSESSION OF FAMILY 




•*" 






3 

S 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 69 

Adams. She was born in Roxbury, July 16th, 1795, 3 died in 
Boston, January 29th, 1881/ 

Children of Simon and Eliza (Adams) Willard. 

Infant son born and died, Roxbury, Sept. 13, 1822. 5 
Mary born, Roxbury, Sept. 27, 1823. 
Mary died, Boston, April 17, 1845. 
Zabdiel Adams born, Roxbury, Jan 22, 1826. 3 Living. 
Simon died, Roxbury, Sept. 1, 1829. 5 Ae 11 mos. 
Eliza Josephine born, Roxbury, May 14, 1831.' 
Eliza Josephine died, Boston, July 13, 185 1. 5 
Simon died, Jan. 21, 1837. 5 Ae 3 days. 
Helen born, Boston, Oct. 21, 1838." Living. 

"After my failure in 1824, went into my Father's clock-making estab. 
lishment and remained until 1826. In July 1826, at the age of 31, I went to 
New York and apprenticed myself to Mr. D. Eggert, a very ingenious 
mechanician to learn the Chronometer and Watch business. Mastered the 
business and returned in 1828 and set up for myself at No. 9 Congress 
Street, Boston, where I remained till January 1, 1870, a period of 42 years. 
I was 31 years of age, had a wife and two small children when I determined 
to go to New York, learn a new trade and begin life again. All my friends 
tried to dissuade me. Everybody threw cold water, numberless wet blankets 
were offered, dismal predictions of failure were made, but I had made up my 
mind to go and I went. 

"On my return, I hired on my own responsibility at a rent of $350, 
the store No. 9 Congress Street. My Father on hearing it, denounced the 
transaction as perfectly reckless and one that would precipitate ruin upon 
the projector. My friends rallied as one man with the chorus of: 'You can't 
succeed.' I had six and a quarter cents in my pocket, large debts hanging 
over me, but I went to work, paid my debts and succeeded." 

'Roxbury Births. 1632 to 1844. 
'Boston Deaths for 1881. No. 769. 
6 G. S. Mt. Auburn Cemetery. 
"Family Record. 



70 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 



Simon Willard, Jr., evidently did not have much faith 
in advertising. The following is the only advertisement the 
author has been able to find in the papers of that period 
and he evidently considered four insertions ample. 7 



■mllii:' 

■rchta 

fE. 

ESTATE, 
■merly the 

iOOO square 
— on it is a 
itaioiiui 13 
Kainwutcr 

good Col- 

«tg» family, 
ipucnlniioii, 
.it U- 1 
<d on raod- 

N f. ELI- 

filan of the 
I be given, 
hrthwirt*'- 

nnrrh >f> 



o*o, No, 1 

flr»« day of 

5 J. Ol.I- 

•unr'26 



BT 



ly, a ami I! 
■we cardan, 
of ike oily, 
*er. — The 

atisfar- 



hopes llr.it mhers who m«y favor him with their 

cuninm will hive *»qeal reason to l»e pleustd. A 

| aparimon ol hi* lnd>«a' eaffetla, is to* in u-ie in the 

[ RidiiltrSrhool in thi« city, whim it is believed le 

I luivr enren universal annalaniun to a'.l who fcave 

u«nl il Si»-3>« frh?S 

NEW WATCH.M AKIKG ESTABLISH. 

MENT. 

SIMON \VILL\RD, Jr. boa tukon the Office late- 
ly occupied by ZeliedecXook, jr. Esq. Roger*' 
Buildingi, No. 9, Conere(s*-«ucel, and will be hap- 
py to attend to the WATCH-MAKlNi"! BUSINESS 
in nil ita branches. Having been absent some ti.ne 
for the express purpose of mailing himself of the in- 
formation of those most skilled in the profession, he 
feels a confidence that he shall be able to give satis- 
faction to all wlu may honor him with their patron- 
age. 

CHRONOME VERS, Duplex Virgvli./.tpint, 
Horizontal Repeating, and Paitnt-Levrr YVatch- 
al repaired* aho, CHlMXEi' and MUSICAL 
CLOCKS. 

CLOCKS. of all .le.-ni iptlons can he obtain".! at Iris 
Father's (Mr. Simon Willied) Factory, in Rox- 
burv.ut riroii notice. Those who may wish his ser- 
vicca, by leaving their address Willi S. Willard, Jr. 
nil! be duly attended to. 

Strict personal attention to butinw. 

march 19 *a 

' KPRI \G FIE LB ALE, 

From the HA.UPDE.\' BREWERY. 

JUST r. reived and for sale, bv JOSEPH CAU 
. LENDER.*) bieWINE WD SEED STORE, 
Tfo. 160, iV'tkiuglon-ttrelt, a supply of snponor 
» — i !.-•* ■ 



VALU.. 

THEE 

15th of Apt 
some Dwcl 
diotis Cotca 
Ice House, 
fd with the 

1 ies, &c. wit 

of valuable 

A furthi.i 

! unneceasar 
iiicd by pe 

I Terms will 

I purchase in 
For further 

I at No. 8, In 



niiijrtij 



On TUESJ, 
Davis Th 
lin. Count 

A FARM 
consist 
, a Dwelling 
i being the F: 

of said Frr 
j William C. 
; of inuvving 

oiemly sit 

prnxdiicn' 

at tin. ■ 



When he first started in this business he lived at his 
father's house in Roxbury, and used to walk in every morn- 
ing to the store, and have it all opened up and ready for 
business by seven o'clock, walking back again at night. He 
did this until 1839 when he took up his residence at the 
corner of Summer and South Sts., afterwards, in 1845, living 
at 16 Kingston St., Boston. 

Probably every old merchant of Boston, and every sea- 
captain that sailed in and out of Boston Harbor, now living 

'Columbian Centinel. Boston. Saturday Morning, March, 1828. 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 71 

will remember Simon Willard's store at No. 9 Congress Street. 
Established during the heyday of American shipping, it 
continued through and survived its fall. A glance over his 
books shows names of nearly every shipping merchant in 
Boston, with many from other ports, who at one time or 
another bought their chronometers there, or had them regu- 
lated or repaired at Willard's store. Likewise appear the 
names of nearly all the famous ships and their equally famous 
captains that sailed them. On the day of sailing all these 
captains called at Willard's store to get their chronometers, 
which had been rated, that is their daily error ascertained, 
have a friendly chat, and find out what the weather was to 
be, for Mr. Willard was famous among sailors as a weather 
prophet. 

Shortly after Simon Willard's return from New York in 
1828, he made an astronomical clock of such excellence and 
rare accuracy that for forty years it was the standard of time 
for all New England. This clock (Plate 25), known as the 
Simon Willard Regulator or Astronomical Clock, was the 
result of the labor of Simon Willard, Jr., about 1832. It has 
the Graham dead beat escapement, jewelled in rubies. None 
of the holes were jewelled, but the quality of the brass and 
steel was such that after forty years of service there was 
no perceptible wear to any part. The pendulum rod was 
steel, sustaining a glass cylinder holding sixty pounds of 
mercury. Its cost was $1000. The works were enclosed 
in a very fine mahogany case made by Charles C. Crehore. 
It was presented to Harvard University for the Observatory 
in 1894 by his son Z. A. Willard and is still in daily use at 
the Observatory. In a letter to the author from Professor 



72 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

Edward C. Pickering, May 14, 1909, he says, " The clock 
has been steadily in use, and has been of great assistance 
to us." 

For many years he had entire charge of all the public 
clocks of the city of Boston. His Astronomical Regulator, 
tested by daily transit observation, was the standard time 
for all the railroads in New England. In 1850, his son, 
Z. A. Willard, was admitted to partnership. 

"He was for many years President of the Cary Improvement Company 
and the Boston Chess Club. He succeeded General Thayer as President of 
the Association of Graduates of West Point Military Academy. At the time 
of his death, he was the oldest graduate of that institution. He presided at 
the dinner given by the Alumni at West Point in 1873, when President 
Grant and General Sherman were present and again in June, 1874, which 
was his last appearance in public. After his return from West Point in 
June his health failed rapidly and he finally succumbed to the asthma, a 




VUrrtisrment used bv Simon Willard, Jr., 
to put inside watch cases. 

disease which bad affected him for over forty years. He died at his resi- 
dence, 17 Beacon Street, August 24th, 1874, in the eightieth vear of his age, 
honored and respected by all that knew him." 8 

'From a memorial written by Major General George \V. Collom, :ilso see Boston 
Advertiser ot" August 26, 1 874. 



ZABDIEL ADAMS WILLARD. 

Zabdiel 7 Adams Willard, only son of Simon" and Eliza 
(Adams) Willard, born in Roxbury, Mass., Jan. 22, 1826. 
Entered his father's store 
as apprentice in 1841. Ad- 
mitted as partner in 1850, 
and quickly took the lead 
in the clock, chronometer, 
and watch business. Sug- . 
gested and had manu- 
factured in London, Eng- 
land, the celebrated Frods- 
ham Watch, the most re- 
markable time-keeper ever 
made by hands, and made 
his name throughout the 
United States as expert and 
authority in that line of 

business. In 1855-56 he delivered a series of lectures on 
Horology and ancient methods of computing time. Retired 
from the watch and chronometer business in 1870. Mar- 
ried Nov. 6, 1851, Lucy Allen Ware, eldest daughter of the 
late Dr. John Ware of Boston. The inventive faculty seems 
to have descended to the third generation, for Z. A. Willard 
invented many processes, furnaces, and machines for the 
reduction of ores of gold and silver, worked mines in Col- 
orado and California, acted as physician in mining camps, 
as well as chemist and assayer. 

73 





BENJAMIN FRANKLIN WILLARD. 

Benjamin 6 Franklin Willard, the fifth son of Simon' 
and his second wife, Mary (Bird) Willard, was born in 

Roxbury, November 2nd, 1803. 1 
Like his father he was a natural 
born mechanic and inventor, 
and a superb workman. His 
early life was very much like 
his brother Simon's. He re- 
ceived a very limited schooling, 
and at an early age entered 
his father's shop where he 
^<£m wk, ■> M learned the clock-making trade. 

He did not engage in clock- 
making himself, but worked 
for outside parties and at times 
for his father. He was for some 
time secretary of the Boylston and India Insurance Com- 
panies 2 and in the last year of his life conducted a jeweller 
and silversmith's business in Boston under the name of Rich 
& Willard. 

Benjamin F. Willard married October 3, 1837, Emeline Maine. 3 She 
died January 20, 1892." He died March 11, 1847. 6 Their daughter Ada 
Louisa, born 1839, died September 3, 1848. G. S. 8 

Benjamin F. Willard did not make very many clocks, 
and it is a matter of regret that he did not confine himself 

■Roxbury Births. 1632 to 1844. 'Boston Deaths for 1892. No. 853. 

•Boston Directories. 1834 to 1838. 6 Roxbury Deaths. 1633 to i860. 

^Boston Marriages. 1800 to 1849. 'Grave Stone, Forest Hills Cemetery. 

74 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 



75 



to that business, in which he no doubt would have become 
as renowned as his father. In 1844 he constructed at his 
brother's shop in Boston, an astronomical clock, which was 
one of the finest of its kind ever made. Every hole was 
jewelled with first-class sapphires, except the main arbor which 
had hardened steel. This jewelling was very costly. The 
plates were cast brass, very heavy, and the pillars massive. 
The pinions and all the steel work were miracles of polish, 
and the finish of the whole clock was wonderful. A very 
ingenious contrivance for lowering the pendulum by which 
by loosening a screw the pendulum rested on a massive 
support and allowed the movement to be taken away with- 
out trouble. The pendulum was mercurial, the mercury 
weighing fifty-six pounds. The movement was covered with 
a brass frame holding a plate glass whereby the back and 
sides could be seen from the outside. The mahogany case 
was also provided with plate glass windows. This mahogany 
case, a very fine one, was made specially to order by Charles 
C. Crehore. 

For this clock (Plate 25) he was awarded a Gold Medal 
by the Massachusetts 
Charitable Mechanics 
Association. He also 
invented a revolving 
light for lighthouses, 
for which he received 
a patent from the 
United States Govern- 
ment 7 . A revolving light of this design contracted for by 

'Granted February 20, 1839. No. 1085. 





76 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

the United States Government in 1828, was also built and 
tested at his brother's store, No. 9 Congress St. It was 
placed in the lighthouse at the entrance of Boston harbor 
about 1830 or 1834 and remained there many years until 
replaced by a modern Fresnel Light. The author gives an 
extract from a letter in regard to this light. 8 

'The Board states however that its records show that on 16 Oct. 1828, 
Gen. S. Plcasanton, Fifth Auditor of the Treasury and Commissioner of 
Revenue, then having charge of the Light-House Service, authorized Henry 
A. S. Dearborn, Esq., Superintendent of Lights for the District of Massa- 
chusetts, to procure an entirely new set of machinery for revolving Boston 
1 ight, and 'to accept the offer of Mr. Willard to supply it, on his improved 
plan, for two hundred and thirty dollars: employing him also to repair the 
old machinery.' 

"The board regrets that owing to the inacessibility of its old records it is 
unable to give further information in reply to your inquiry.'" 

Besides being a clock-maker and inventor, Benjamin F. 
Willard was a remarkable penman. An example of his skill 
in this line is shown in Plate 27. This piece of work, 
largely reduced, unfortunately does not show all the details. 
The small circle in the lower right-hand corner has the 
Lord's Prayer written therein; in the original it has to be 
read with a magnifying glass. 

Besides being a penman, he was an artist and painted 
many excellent pictures. His early death is to be regretted, 
as his accomplishments were such as would have made him 
eminent in any line of business, artistic or inventive, he 
might have undertaken. 

1 oiioi 1'iom l'liom.is 1.. C.isiv, Lt. Col. Corps of Engineers, l. S. A. Lighthouse Board, 
Washington, O. C. 



PLATE 27 



m 

z 

> 

z 
D 

z 
7; 

o 

> 

z 
CI 



00 

m 

z 

> 

2 



r 
r 
> 
X 
a 




BENJAMIN WILLARD. 

Benjamin' Willard, the second son of Benjamin' and 
Sarah (Brooks) Willard, was born in Grafton, March 19, 
1743. 1 He was among the first of the early New England 
clock-makers, and the first of this famous clock-making 
family to engage in the business. It is a matter of regret 
that so little is known about him. Of his early life in Graf- 
ton, and of whom he learned his trade, the writer has been 
unable to find the slightest authentic information. He 
might have learned it from some journeyman clock-maker, 
or it might possibly have been the Morris referred to by 
Drake, 2 who was said to be the instructor of Simon Willard. 
The first authentic information we have of Benjamin Willard 
is found in two deeds, 3 where Benjamin Willard buys two lots 
of land with house, etc., in Grafton, of his father. These 
are dated May 18, 1764 and Aug. 20, 1766. These purchases 
would seem to indicate that he was intending to settle 
down in Grafton. He must have been clock-making before 
this date and had his factory at the old homestead. It will 
be noticed in his advertisements in the Boston papers he 
mentions his factory and workmen at Grafton. Between 
1766 and 1771, he seems to have removed to Lexington, 
Mass., but the writer has been unable to find any trace of 
his stay in that town, where he lived, whether he had a 
workshop, or how long he remained. Probably his stay 
was not long. The author is of the opinion that Benjamin 

'Original Grafton Records. Vol. I. Page 206. 

2 R. C. Vol. 34. Page 152. 

'Worcester Deeds. Vol. 56. Page 13. Vol. 56. Page 15. 

77 



78 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

did not make clocks there wholly, but brought them down 
from Grafton, and put the finishing touches on at Lexing- 
ton. Probably business was not good in Lexington, and 
deciding on a change, he announces his removal from Lex- 
ington to Roxbury, Mass., in the advertisement on Plate 28 
which appears for the first time in the Boston Evening Post, 
December 17, 1771. This advertisement appears at intervals 
in the Evening Post until February, 1772. 

Equally barren of information is his stay in Roxbury. 
The writer has tried to ascertain exactly where he lived, but 
has only succeeded in locating him in Roxbury Street, for 
in his advertisement in the Boston Gazette, February 22, 1773, 
he speaks of his shop in Roxbury Street. In his advertise- 
ment of Sept. 5 and Oct. 3, 1774, in the Boston Gazette and 
County Journal, he also speaks of his Roxbury Street shop. 

As his brother Simon Willard 's shop was only a few 
hundred feet from the Boston line, the question sometimes 
has been raised as to whether Simon might not have bought 
Benjamin's business out. The last trace the writer has of 
Benjamin Willard's stay in Roxbury is in the Roxbury Tax 
Lists, 4 where the entry is found of Benjamin Willard, 1 Poll, 
Real Estate £12, Pers. Estate £5. As he is assessed for 
only one poll it would indicate he had no partner or ap- 
prentices. His last advertisement occurs in the Massachu- 
setts Spy, October 15, 1774. All his advertisements are 
noticeable for their quaintness. 

It is quite likely that he did not spend all his time in 
Roxbury, but passed the winter months in Grafton. At the 
outbreak of the Revolution he probably returned to Grafton. 

'Roxburj I i\ 1 ists Vol. 5, 1774. Westerly Parishes ot" Roxbury- 



PLATE 28 



.; ihuiy, at fftwhui Put. 






icnjamin Willaid 

. Clock Mak.-r, 
. Wv informs lite Publick, That 

oi Lrx:-[— to CuaVrr, il«rlU|hifl< 

i.duicJ Olocki «vt him an* who <tafaal arajiim i„« 

e < i ih m, (till ra«y «m« the Ihk '•« tttfcro k> «y 

■ i Sim " II iUi|, ac by SitWiikMtn M '"•nftr«, •*!.,,« 

,0't- I *»«il » tf Anib«ryi Th»ft llaM nU*lc 

him *l!h il'nr Ctftai ma« hitr all iarti mi aun- 

' I *«xl , an] iwaily Ctlrtt. at Uit -Many*, MITifh 

hull -»~ (tui «i« p«r<lMiad to*mf> f?iflMCnW«ft«. 

- I rfj tllal llfclla <••!)• ollMi i ikl <<I.Mr<iui.ll 

nu-tt with iuiubl, CiGftuia ern^M hnr, aa 

- I-- 3 li-y- S .itm ef M «n ltatt«..jv f"i f —ijnWa.lt 

•.*)'•-: r iiiad to thr Fm lumamf of ihh Country. 

. W» . him —r|ti|i t M— l«wnjJL Witch 

Chi) .' ., n>»> !>.• hjj it |jk| Slwp vhtlf bar Calh. 



i'V r r.crfr 



' 



rv -. 



BOSTON EVENING POST 
DECEMBER 17, 1771 



...u. 

...jou, v olhi'< Lrai. ,i iek> 

jl III ,. L.. rt. ' f .-, Mnhlf.i;-ni'r»IWASH H ALL? . 

Benjamin Willard 

Al hi. SHOP In Rout™ ) Slr.tl. 

IVrfjtmi the it.fl'cirni B ranch el ut Clock ami Watch 

\v„.k Anil hai f»« Silt. 

Mufical CLOCKS playing dilTcrmt 

Tunc a, a Ufw Tut rvery Day in ilic VV*ek| and un 
i>unJa)*a a riMm Tune ,— 1 l.r f I'linn yr form i-v»*ty 
Jluur without ■"> O'tttruflion to the Motion < i tyoiu*{ 
of the Clock— A new Invention lor ('ticking Kartell 
to i of mi. tin Mull k , RntJ ihrClocki nq m*Je much 
clirjj>rt than ap) t*<i jr. known, Alio all (brltcf om- 4 
mon Suling l.';. eki ami 1 i, In l)»v CltfCfcl me nia.le at 
I'aJt) bli- 1 , at.d ix ail v c ifcil inrj fuU a- cheap at cm be 

J lllp ll|l*U i Mill ill WIllll I I 

All ih< Hi .1 < lie* ol lliti BuCntft is likewile carried | 
on .ii his Sli i in I : ' aftm* \ 

1 .,,<. tu.l ... mi ! * '\!VN, in Captain J.-nluni, and ir- 



BOSTON GAZETTE 

JULY 22. t773 



* 1 t -, ' ii ' ■' 



■ 



M U S I A L « 1. 1) < 






To be SolJ Mulic il ( loi k, ili ii 

I.,, (i. i Iff k« I'm r . lir W i , 

I . ,1 . I H.irnt lot: u.h I'll in |V VV, k 
tin) i i I'U'm Tun*. Ii.rj irt ul llf'VU W t I v ,< 1 1 
(I k \ W.iv i M .k'i ir K. »Smt S id nit II 
•c kU lornol Clo ■• »i-t »nJ*<t n thr n 

I'jim.liillWjt 1111111 it io x.ilii , ,nr 

ttiih jtit.Ctf*trl«|. A .<Irinici7ii.lt al |n( 

l'\iur f !«•■ l« *ni»Ul Coiim »n.| m ■ 
,n I ihnyti iS»«.c>« W | 

Co -I - '' « I -* 1 -' I . . ■ ' 

Au i « H.t. il.it ..! it i H 
>i tut '•' f •' ••■••' ' 
k^xioskWcwx XQ'OCXX'XI 
TO H »■ S o I l> 
t.. -» r« MO " * / V ' 



. . :iii(in-i.... 
: l»iin! ,.i.i l'.» Vmi. 






M U S ICAL CLOCK S. 
r o BE sol i>, 

AN I'M BLR of Mulu-.il Clocks 
whiih y\.\y a diffrirnt Tu'ir r.ich D») i. thf 
Week, f-tt Sunday i Pulm Tune. Rmniini of 

IlkN J AM IN WILLARD, 

1 M I r i in R . , . S > \ lliri-t, r.r.ll UoiTnk 
I I " ol'Clocki are Itljji in ihr n-^HI Forn 

i ii '. iut v>i;«! .' ,,. ■ 

icaji without CI 4:iln|. Alfo, C!^'- 
ftmc IMac* in \*riou\ Form: «rn 
• eapi than can be ■ 
nvtyed wiA Clock! to any fitt >i n. 



liutiun. 



Wn ujd l.k-wifc informi, tl 
.. il.i Bttfuiclj .art carrkd on at hi; Shop at 







w.y 



,i m 



cavt to 



BOSTON GAZETTE AND COUNTY JOURNAL 

SEPTEMBER 5 AND OCTOBER 3. 1774 



MASSACHUSETTS SPY 
OCTOBER 15, 1774 



NEWSPAPER ADVERTISEMENTS 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 79 

The author has no information to show that Benjamin 
served in the Army, as did most of his brothers, and there 
is a gap between 1775 and 1783, where all trace of him is 
lost. In 1783 he reappears in Grafton and in legal diffi- 
culties with one Daniel Willard. 1 Also in 1783, the birth of 
one of his children is recorded in the Grafton records, show- 
ing that during this interval he must have returned to his 
native town and perhaps was married there. In 1788 he 
appears buying an estate in Grafton of Cyrus French." 
There is no record of his marriage that the writer can find. 
He perhaps married in Grafton and his wife might have 
been a native of that place, but there is no information to 
show where she came from. 

Benjamin Willard married Peggy [Margaret] Moore. 7 She died in 
Grafton, June I, 1837, ae 85." He died in Baltimore, Md., September, 
1803. 9 

Children of Benjamin and Margaret Willard. 

Elizabeth Moore, born May 12, 1783.'° 

Margaret, born May 23, 1785. 10 

Benjamin, born Aug. 6, 1 787.'° Died Jan. 5, 1801; ae 13." 

Nancy M., born about 1793. Died June 21, 1816; ae 23.* 

Martha 

The births of the daughters Nancy M. and Martha are 
not recorded in the Grafton Records, but Martha is men- 
tioned in the will of her mother." Benjamin seems to have 
remained in Grafton with his family for some time. 

'Worcester Deeds. Vol. 90. Page 126. 

"Worcester Deeds. Vol. 103. Page 648. 

'Note in manuscript of Joseph Willard, author of the Willard Memoir. 

"Grave Stone. Old Grafton Cemetery. 

"Worcester Spy. Date of October 5, 1803. 
'"Original Grafton Records. Vol. I. Births and Deaths. Page 146. 
"Worcester Probate. 66002. 



80 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

In 1790 he is recorded as living in Worcester Town. 13 
In 1791 it looks as if he were contemplating a change, for 
he sells land in Grafton to Thomas Axtell, Jr.," and after this 
there is nothing authentic about him until 1798, when Ben- 
jamin Willard seems to have fallen on evil days. He ap- 
pears to have got into a lawsuit or some legal tangle with 
one John Taylor of Northboro, Mass., who got judgment 
against him for $1901.94 and costs." This lawsuit not only 
seems to have ruined him, but landed him in jail besides, 
(probably for debt). After this, information as to his move- 
ments is very vague and unsatisfactory. That he remained 
in Grafton some time after his lawsuit is proved by the 
United States Census return for 1800, in which he and his 
whole family are recorded. 

WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS, 1800. 



NAMI S 


NAMES OF 
HEADS OF 
FAMILIES 




1 Kl E WHITE MALES 




FREE WHITE FEMALES 


OF 

1 OWNS 




vO 




"-"_ 




he 


vO 


*C •— 


£*- 


cn*^ 






« 


-, 


M O 


-•- O 


-a 




M 


■* 


-3 






<— 


k- 




»- v. 


u 





4* 

-0 
c 


u U) 




en v> 






O 

(A 


u 

-0 
c 


72 n at 


v -a 

"! S3 » 

C V aj 


J n » 


4) -0 

C JJ u 


"2 « <« 

C ») u 


and upw 
ding head 
families 






ra 
V 
>, 

O 


3 

-0 

c 


and u 
ding h 
famili 


and u 
ding h 
famili 


and u 
ding h 
famili 





-0 
c 

a 


and u 
ding h 
famili 


and u 
ding h 
famili 













3 


U-. 3 


u 


O 


3 


vD 3 


J? 3 






-a 


W« 


M "3 


>— e 


u 
-0 

C 


<*- 


" u 


'— C 


*1 






c 


O 


O- 


O- 


O- 


O 


C'~ 


O- 


O '- 


i. Irafton 


Benjamin 

Willard 




I 





— 


2 


2 


I , 


I 


1 


— 

























At some time in 1801, he must have gone to Boston, but 
all efforts to locate him have failed. His name does not 
appear in the Boston Tax Lists, or in the Directory. At some 
time in 1803 he went to Baltimore, Md., where he died, lor in 



''Worcester Town, lust Census of the U. S. 1790. Page 245. 
''Worcester Deeds. Vol, in, Poge 430, and Vol 113, Page 6+7. 
"Worcester Deeds. Vol. 133. Pp. 4.66-470. 



PLATE 29 




BENJAMIN WILLARD 

HALL CLOCK 

OWNED BY 

ARTHUR W. WELLINGTON 
Boston. Mass. 



AARON WILLARD 

HALF OR SHELF CLOCK 

OWNED BY 

DWIGHT F. PROUTY 
Chestnut Hill. Mass. 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 81 

the issue of the Worcester Spy, for October 5, 1803, is the follow- 
ing death notice: "At Baltimore, Mr. Benjamin Willard, for- 
merly of Grafton, where he has left a wife and four children." 
Also in the Columbian Sentinel, Boston, September 28, 1803: 
" Deaths. At Baltimore, Mr. Benjamin Willard of this 
Town, where he has left a wife and four children." Prob- 
ably he went to Baltimore to try and establish the clock- 
making business there. Benjamin Willard left no will, and 
May 1, 1804, his widow is appointed administratrix of his 
estate. 15 Benjamin Willard left very little property, the 
appraisers only reporting personal property, value of $75.09, 
no real estate. 13 His lawsuit evidently had stripped him of 
everything. Of Benjamin Willard's clock-making, his fac- 
tory, or his methods of working, the author has no informa- 
tion whatever. Histories of Grafton barely mention the 
name. 

He did not make a very good clock compared with 
his brother Simon, and apparently made only the tall Hall 
clock. The writer has never heard of his making the 
Half or Shelf clock, nor has he ever seen one. Speci- 
mens of his Hall Clocks marked Grafton, Lexington and 
Roxbury have been examined by the author, but he has 
never seen one marked Boston or any other place other 
than the above. Plate 29 shows by far the finest example 
of Benjamin Willard's clocks that the author has ever seen. 
Its condition is almost perfect, having all the original 
parts, even to the wooden pendulum rod. The case is 
a very handsome one of selected mahogany. The dial 
is an imported one of heavy engraved brass, giving the 

"Worcester Probate. 65849. 



82 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

changes of the moon and the days of the month. At 
the top of the dial is the quaint inscription in a running 
hand, " The man is yet unborn that duty weighs one 
hour." The centre of the dial has the words " Benjamin 
Willard, Roxbury." The date of this clock would prob- 
ably be between 1771 and 1775. It would be interesting 
to know if Benjamin Willard ever made any clocks in 
Baltimore. All the clocks seen have had handsome brass 
dials evidently imported from England. All the early 
New England clock-makers were obliged to import their 
dials from England, and would finish them up at their 
own shops. Benjamin Willard was a great wanderer and 
doubtless was in other places besides the ones where he 
has been located. His family is extinct in the male line. 
The old Benjamin Willard house (Plate 30) is still stand- 
ing in Grafton, Mass., although somewhat changed. The 
place is about three miles from Grafton Center, in the Farms 
District, on the crossroad to Westboro. The ell is a later 
addition and the main dwelling house has had an additional 
story added. The front door is the original one, and the 
interior still retains the original stairs, and the rooms are 
very little altered. On the old stone step are carved the 
initials B. W. (Plate 31.) 

The author is of the opinion that this house was 
built by Benjamin" Willard, who in his will 16 drawn 
March 4, 1717-18, probated Aug. 18, 1732, speaks of his 
" homestat in Hassanimisco " [Grafton]. This being the 
case the old homestead would certainly date from 1717 
and perhaps earlier. 

'•Worcester Probate. 05S47. 



PLATE 30 




PLATE 31 





iT 



PORTION Ol imi OLD DOOR AND DOORSTEPS ON THE 
BENJAMIN WILl.AHD HOU6I Af ORAI fON MASS. 



AARON WILLARD. 

Aaron' Willard, ninth son of Benjamin 4 and Sarah 
(Brooks) Willard, was born in Grafton, Mass., October 13, 
1757.' Of his early life in Grafton, and to whom he was 
apprenticed, the author has no information whatever. An 
article in a recent paper states that Aaron Willard learned 
his trade of Alexander T. Willard and Philander J. Willard, 
clock-makers, of Ashby, Mass. As they were born in 1772 
and 1774 respectively, and did not learn their trade until 
about 1798, the improbability of this statement is evident, 
for in 1798, Aaron Willard was well established in his busi- 
ness in Boston. The author is very much inclined to the 
opinion that Aaron Willard learned his trade of one of 
his brothers, either Benjamin or Simon. The first authentic 
information of Aaron Willard is in 1775, when in response 
to the alarm of April 19, he marched from Grafton to Rox- 
bury. His military record is as follows: 2 

"Aaron Willard, Grafton. — Private, Capt Aaron Kimball's co of 
Militia [Col] Artemas Ward's regt, which marched in response to the 
alarm of April 19, 1775, said Willard marched April 19, 1775, service 1 
week, reported enlisted into the army April 26, 1775, also Capt Luke 
Duruy's Co, Col Jonathan Ward's regt, muster roll dated Aug. 1, 1775, 
enlisted April 26, 1775, service 1 mo. 10 days, reported enlisted into the 
train, June 3, 1775, also company return, probably Oct. 1775." 

Drake 3 gives an anecdote about Aaron Willard's services 
at this period. He served longer in the army than any of 

'Original Grafton Records. Vol. 1. Births. Page 206. 

'Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolution. Vol. 17. Page 379. 

'R. C.Vol. 34. Page 374. 

83 



84 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

his brothers. This seems to have been the extent of his 
army service, and after his discharge he probably returned 
to Grafton, where he doubtless finished his apprenticeship. 
In 1780 he came to Roxbury at the same time as his brother 
Simon. His name appears in 1783 in the Roxbury Tax Lists, 
assessed for 2 polls, 3£ Real Estate, 6£ Personal.' This 
would seem to show that he had an apprentice or workman 
with him. Drake B says that Aaron Willard first kept where 
the apothecary shop numbered 2224 Washington St. now 
is. This would place him some little distance above his 
brother's, Simon Willard's, shop, now No. 2196. 

Aaron Willard married 1st, Catherine Gates of Roxbury, 
March 6, 1783/' She died July 30, 1785, ae 22. 7 

Children of Aaron and Catherine (Gates) Willard. 

Aaron, born June 29, 1783. 6 
Nancy, born July 14, 1785. 8 

Aaron Willard married 2nd, Polly Partridge, Nov. 1, 1789." 

She died Oct. 10, 1846, ae 85. 7 He died May 20, 1844, ae 87. 7 

Children of Aaron and Polly [Mary] (Partridge) Willard. 

Polly, born Dec. 1790. 8 

Sopbia and Emily (gem), born Nov. 27, 1792." 

Catbcrine Gates, born Oct. 15, 1794.'° 

Jane J., born about 1798. Birtb not recorded. Died Aug. 13, 188O." 

Charles, born July 12, 1800. '- 

4 Roxbun Tax i ists, for November, 17S3. 

»R. CVol. 34. Page 153. 

'Roxbury B. M. and D. 1630101785. Manuscript Copy. Page 174. 

•Ibid. Page 114. 

'Grave Stone. Eustis Street Cemetery, Roxbury, Mass. 

'Roxbury Births. 163310 1844. 

'R. C. Vol. 30. Page 112. 
' D:uc of birth given from family records of Mr. Watson Gore, Braintree, Mass. 
"1 1 dngton, M.iss. Vital Records. P.ige 48^. 
"Boston Births. 1800 t.< 1S40. 



PLATE 32 





AARON WILLARD 

SHELF OR HALF CLOCKS 



OWNED BV 



HOWARD MARSTON 
BOSTON 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 85 

Henry, born May i, 1802. 12 
Morris, born Oct. 21, 1808. 12 

Aaron Willard's children survived him with the exception 
of Charles, who probably died young. The author can 
find no record of him, and he is not mentioned in Aaron 
Willard's will. Nine children are mentioned.' 3 Most of 
his children moved away, going to New Orleans and Phila- 
delphia, Henry and Jane J. Willard remaining in Boston. 13 

It may be noted here as a rather curious fact that 
Aaron Willard, Elnathan Taber, Abel Hutchins, and Samuel 
Curtis, all clock-makers, married sisters, daughters of Thad- 
deus Partridge of Boston and Roxbury. 14 Another daughter, 
Abigail Partridge, married John Pierce Sawin of Roxbury, 
Dec. 16, 1798. 15 Their son, John Sawin, born Sept. 13, 
1799, 1 " was apprenticed to Aaron Willard, Sr. After serving 
his apprenticeship, he set up in the clock-making busi- 
ness in Boston, his place of business being at various 
places, but principally on Court St. 17 He was frequently 
employed by Simon Willard, Jr., & Son to make clocks 
for them. He made a very good clock. He died in 
1863."' Aaron Willard was a good, keen business man, 
and after settling down in Roxbury, saw that only a 
bare living was to be made in making clocks himself, 
and peddling them around the country single-handed, and 
the only way to make money was to manufacture clocks 

"Boston Births. 1800 to 1849. 

"Suffolk Probate. Vol. 142. i'p- 369 to 371. 

"Norfolk Probate. 14132. 

,5 Ro.\bury Marriages. 1632 to i860. 

'"Roxbury Births. 1632 to 1844. 

"Boston Directories. 1848 to 1862. 

"Boston Pc:irhs tor 1865. No. 1008. 



86 Simon Wiilard and His Clocks 

on a large scale. He therefore decided to start a fac- 
tory and make clocks wholesale, and of a cheaper grade. 
Whether he had a factory in Roxhury first, the author 
is inclined to doubt; at least no evidence can be found 
to indicate that he had. 

The evidence gathered seems to indicate that Aaron 
Wiilard established his factory in Boston, on the Neck, 
a little distance from the Roxbury line, not taking up his 
residence there until some time after. Just when he 
moved to Boston is not quite certain. In 1788 he calls 
himself a resident of Roxbury. 1 " In 1792 he bought an 
estate in Boston," on the Neck, which probably is the 
one he made his residence, and was afterwards numbered 
843 Washington St.," and where he lived until he died. 
In this deed also he calls himself of Roxbury. His name 
docs not appear in the United States Census of 1790 for 
Boston, or in the Boston Directory for 1796, but is found 
resident in Roxbury in 1790. His name and residence 
is given in the Boston Directory for 1798, as "Aaron 
Wiilard, ('lock-maker, on the Neck." His place is de- 
scribed ' as "Aaron Wiilard, owner and occupier of wooden 
dwelling, East by Washington, South by land of Sam'l 
and Arnold Welles, North by William Fisk, wood house 
480 square ft. Wood Barn 792 square ft. wood, Land 
30,000 square ft., house 1464 square ft. 3 stories, 36 win- 
dows, value $3000." 

It would seem therefore from the evidence shown that 

'•Suffolk Deeds. Vol. 163. Pp. s., So. 

'"Suffolk Deeds. Vol. 173. Pp. no-n\. 

11 Boston Directories. iN ••, i>> [848. 

"First Census of the U. S. foi Mass., 1790, Roxbury [own, Name not indexed. 

R C V.. I •• Page ir 



PLATE 33 




AARON WILLARD 

REGULATOR CLOCK 

OWNED BY 

THE AUTHOR 




AARON WILLARD, Jr. 

LYRE CLOCK 

OWNED BY 

PATRICK MEANIX 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 87 

his factory was first established in Boston, and that he took 
up his residence there some time between 1792 and 1798. 
His factory was in the rear of his house, which fronted on 
Washington St., and was connected with the house by a 




MODEL OP THE WILLARD CLOCK FACTOTJV. 



row of buildings, fronting on a lane that led off Washington 
St. This lane is now probably Derby Place. These build- 
ings on the lane were the storehouses of Aaron Willard, and 
the workshops of the various trades who probably rented 
them of Aaron Willard. Among these were Charles 
Bullard, 24 ornamental painter, Henry Willard, clock-case 
maker, Pratt & Walker, cabinet makers, often described in 
the Directories as being in rear of 843 Washington St. 

Aaron Willard's house and factory were landmarks 
in this section of the town. In course of time a little 
colony of clock-makers and the various trades dependent 
on them established themselves in the vicinity. Taking 
the Roxbury line in Washington St. as a centre, in 1816 
and later, a radius of half a mile would include nearly 
all the clock-makers of note, with the attendant trades. 
Simon Willard, William Cummens, Elnathan Taber, clock- 

u Boston Directories. 1816 to 1844. 



88 



No. 1,085. 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 

B. F. WILLARD. 
Signal Light. 

Patented Feb. 20, 1839, 




Simon willard and His Clocks 89 

United States Patent Office. 



BENJAMIN F. WILLARD, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS. 
IMPROVEMENT IN REVOLVING LIGHTS FOR LIGHT-HOUSES. 



Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 1,085, dated February 20, 1839. 



To all whom it may concern: 

Bo it known that I, Benjamin F. Willard, 
of thocityof Boston, in the county of Suffolk 
and State of Massachusetts, have invented a 
now and useful Improvement in Revolving 
Lights of Light-Houses, called" Willard 's Re- 
volving Flashing Lights," which is described 
as follows, reference being had to the annexed 
drawings of the same, making part of this 
specification. 

Owing to the multiplicity of the common 
revolving lights on our coast it has become 
very difficult for mariners to distinguish one 
light from, another, so much so, indeed, that 
in some places it has become necessary to in- 
cur au additional expense of erecting two or 
three lights in the same place in order to ren- 
der the light distinguishable from other lights. 
Now in order to save this additional expense 
and at the same time to render the light clearly 
distinguishable from all others is the object 
of this invention. 

It is effected in the following manner; In 
addition to the ordinary clock-work hereto- 
fore used for imparting a regular rotary mo- 
tion to the main or vertical shaft A, on which 
the lights are suspended, there is arranged 
upon and secured to the frame of the clock- 
work in a horizontal position a circular rim 
or railway B of any required diameter. Upon 
this horizontal stationary circular rim or rail- 
way B there is made to travel around in a 
circlo upon its upper or flat side a vertical 
wheel Cof a diameter adapted to the number 
of revolutions required to be performed in 
passing around upon said circular railway, 
whose axle D turns in suitable pulley-frames 
E, whoso shank works loosely in an oblong 
mortise near the end of au arm F, extending 
horizontally from the vertical shaft beyond 
the periphery of the circular railway. 

Thoobject of having the frame of the wheel 
to rise or fall loosely in the mortise of the 
arm is to cause tho wheel always to bear on 
the railway and be turned by the friction be- 



tween their surfaces in contact aud thus to 
turn the axle of the wheel, on ono end of which 
is fixed a shade G, made of tin or any thin 
metallic substance, by means of a square 
socket I, fastened on tho arms J of the shado 
and slipped over the end of tho axle D, which 
is made square to fit said socket. The shade 
G is on ono end of tho arm and a weight K 
on the other to balance it. Said shado being 
then in a vertical position and directly in 
front of the lights, will when in motion cause 
the lights to appear and disappear in quick 
succession of sudden flashes. Tho other end 
of tho arm is furnished with like wheel, axle, 
sliding frame, and revolving shade, operating 
and producing the same effect as those just 
described. 

The arm for carrying around tho wheels 
and to which they are attached is secured to 
the center vertical shaft, upon which the 
lights are suspended by a mortise iu tho cen- 
terof said arm and a screw L, passing through 
the arm, by which it can bo raised or lowered 
as a proper adjustment may require. It is 
made to extend each way in opposite direc- 
tionsand is placed directly under the revolv- 
ing lights. 

Tho invention claimed, and desired to be 
secured by Letters Patent, consists in — 

The before-described method of rendering 
the revolving lights of light-houses distin- 
guishable from other re vol vinglights by means 
of vertical revolvingshades turned by wheels 
moving on a circular railway, to the axles of 
which the shades aro fixed directly in front 
of the lights, which when in motion will cause 
tho lights to appear and disappear in quick 
succession of sudden flashes, as herein set 
forth, whether produced by the combination 
of parts here described or any other combi- 
nation substantially the same. 

BENJAMIN F. WILLARD 

Witnesses: 

Wm. P. Elliott, 
Edmund Maher. 



90 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

makers, Nehemiah Munroe, cabinetmaker, on the Rox- 
bury side, Aaron Willard, Aaron Willard, Jr., clock-makers, 
Charles Bullard, John R. Penniman, Samuel Washburn, 
John Green, Jr., painters, William Fisk, Pratt & Walker, 
Thomas Bacon, Spencer Thomas, cabinetmakers, Lewis 
Lauriat, goldbeater, Nolen and Curtis, dial makers, Simeon 
Gilson, William Abbot, brass founders, Thomas Ayling, 
turner, and Thomas Wightman, carver. Besides these, the 
lead works and mahogany mills were close by. All these 
supplied the clock-makers more or less. 

Just why Aaron Willard selected this part of Boston 
instead of going to the city proper is hard to say. This part 
of Boston was for a long time almost inaccessible, and con- 
sidered completely out of the way. Drake 25 says, " In season 
of full tides portions of the Neck were covered with water, 
rendering it almost impassible in the spring . . . The appear- 
ance of this avenue sixty years ago was desolate and forbid- 
ding enough. Between Dover St. and the Roxbury Line 
there were but eighteen buildings in 1794." 

Aaron Willard prospered and he did a large business, 
employing as high as twenty or thirty workmen in his later 
years. There is not the slightest evidence the author can 
find to show that Aaron Willard's brothers, Benjamin, Simon 
or Ephraim, were ever associated with him. Aaron Willard 
never seemed to advertise his business. The author, after a 
careful search, has never been able to find an advertisement of 
any kind in the newspapers. It was not the custom of those 
days to advertise much. Aaron Willard made the tall Hall 
Clock, Half or Shelf Clock, Timepiece, Gallery Clock, and 

= S R. C. Vol. 34. Pp. 66-67. 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 91 

Regulator Clock. When he first started in business he 
confined himself to the Hall Clocks and Half Clocks. 
The Half Clock he made in great quantities and in the 
greatest variety of styles. Plate 29 is a fair example of the 
solid mahogany cases, and Plate 32 is an exceptionally 
good example of the glass front style, the glass being 
especially good. In Plate 32 the ground color of the 
glass is a beautiful sea green tint. The early speci- 
mens of the Half Clock are rather clumsily made, 
especially the weights. He continued the style of clock 
that Simon Willard abandoned in 1780. Many of the cases 
of these Half Clocks are beautifully inlaid. He made the 
Half Clock with solid mahogany cases, until Simon Wil- 
lard introduced the glass front style, which Aaron Willard 
promptly copied. Sometimes the cases are found made of 
yellow mahogany, oak or cherry. Many of the cases of his 
Hall Clocks are also beautifully inlaid. Like his brother, 
Simon Willard, he made what was called the Ship Clock, 
a tall clock having the figure of a ship on the dial, secured 
to the pallets, and rocked by the swing of the pendulum. 
After Simon Willard brought out his Timepiece of 
1802, Aaron Willard gradually abandoned the manufacture 
of the Half Clock, and made the Timepiece in increas- 
ing quantities. Being desirous of making a cheaper grade 
of clock, his glass fronts were never as elaborate as those 
of Simon Willard, unless it was made on an order. Plate 
20 is a very fair type of Aaron Willard's Timepiece. 
The design on the door glass is one much used by him, 
also the narrow, glass front design. The mahogany case is 
decorated with a narrow beading, gilded, and is also pro- 



92 SIMON WILLARD AND HIS CLOCKS 

vided with a base piece or bracket. The top ornament is 
original. Aaron Willard generally used a gilded acorn as 
a top ornament, but sometimes used the ball and spike, 
rarely the spread eagle. He almost invariably put his 
name on the dials of his clocks, as did his son Aaron, 
Jr. Aaron Willard made the striking Timepiece also. He 
did not make many of them, as they were expensive. 

A style of clock affected by Aaron Willard, although 
he does not seem to have made many of them, was a 
Regulator Clock, having a concave or dished dial. He 
made these with either solid mahogany cases or glass 
fronts. An example of the solid mahogany case style is 
shown in Plate 33. An excellent example of the glass 
front style may be seen at Crosby's Restaurant on School 
St., Boston. This style of clock was also made by Aaron 
Willard, Jr. Aaron Willard also made the Church or Tur- 
ret Clock, but the author is inclined to think he did not 
make very many of them. 

As may be imagined in conducting a business so many 
years on a large scale, the number of clocks turned out by 
the Aaron Willards was very large, and consequently their 
clocks are by no means uncommon, being found practically 
over the whole of New England. In his early clock-making 
days Aaron Willard used to peddle clocks around the 
country, his beat being the South Shore. The clocks made 
by Aaron Willard and Aaron Willard, Jr., vary considerably 
in quality, being seemingly dependent on the ability of the 
workmen they employed. Sometimes the clock movements 
are especially good, and again a poor quality of work will 
be noted. As a rule the men employed by Aaron Willard, 



SIMON WILLARD AND HIS CLOCKS 93 

Jr., did not seem to be such good workmen, owing perhaps 
to the gradual decline of the apprenticeship system. 

About 1823 or a little later Aaron Willard, having made 
a very comfortable fortune for those days, decided to retire 
from active business, and his son, Aaron, Jr., took charge 
of the whole business, making but few changes in the style 
of clocks turned out, which changes are noted in the life 
of Aaron Willard, Jr. Aaron Willard died in 1844. His will 
mentions his house 843 Washington St., and his property 
was divided among his nine surviving children. 20 None of 
his sons, with the exception of Aaron, Jr., and Henry, seem 
to have had anything to do with the clock-making business. 
After Aaron Willard's death, the little clock-making colony 
gradually drifted away and finally in 1850" his place was 
sold, and a business that had existed for over sixty years 
became a thing of the past. 

"Suffolk Probate. Vol. 142. Pp. 369-370-371. 
'■''Boston Advertiser. December 16, 1850. 



AARON WILLARD, JR. 

Aaron 6 Willard, Jr., only son of Aaron 5 and his first 
wife, Catherine (Gates) Willard, was born in Roxbury, 
Mass., June 29, 1783.' He learned his trade in his father's 
clock factory, and he lived most of his life in Boston, 
on the Neck, engaged in the clock-making business. 
After serving his apprenticeship he was for a short time 
in partnership with a Spencer Nolen, advertising them- 
selves as Willard & Nolen, clock and sign painters, 
Boston Neck.-' Spencer Nolen afterwards married Nancy 
Willard,' Aaron Willard, Jr's., sister. The partnership did 
not last long, for in 1809, Aaron Willard, Jr., is recorded 
as a clock-maker on Washington St. 4 He probably was 
employed at his father's factory. In 1815 he bought an 
estate on Washington St., Boston Neck. 5 Here with some 
additions to his place, he lived for over thirty years. 
His place, numbered 815 s Washington St., was where the 
Washington Market now stands. 

He was very fond of flowers and gardening and his 
place was laid out with very beautiful flower beds, and 
his house had a large greenhouse attached to it. An 
orchard and vegetable garden were in the rear of the 
house. A stone post with a small dial clock on the top 
stood in front of the house. There was no clock factory 

'Roxbury B. M. mul D. 1630 to 1785. Manuscript copv. Page 114. 

'Boston Directory. 1S06. 

S R. C. Vol. 30.' Page 264. 

'Boston Directory. 1 809. 

'Suffolk Deeds. Vol. 247. Pages 280-281. 

'Boston Directories. 182s to '848. 

0+ 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 95 

on the place that the author knows of. Z. A. Willard 
says he often had occasion to go past there, and has no 
recollection of any shop or factory on the premises, unless 
the clock-making was carried on in the house. As Aaron 
Willard, Jr., did a large business and employed many men, 
it is more than likely the clock-making was done at his 
father's factory, especially as he took over his father's 
business about 1823. 

Aaron Willard, Jr., married, Jan. 7, 1816, Ann Dorr. 7 
She died, June 7, 1842, ae 61." 

Children of Aaron, Jr., and Ann Willard. 

Emily, born Dec. 27, 1816. 8 

Anthony Mayben, born July II, 1819.' 

Aaron Willard, Jr., married as his second wife, Nov. 
10, 1855, Emeline Davenport, ,0 who survived him. He died 
in Newton, Mass., May 2, 1864." There were no children 
by the second marriage. The births of Aaron Willard, Jr.'s, 
children are not recorded in the Boston Records, but are 
found in the Records of the Hollis St. Church, a copy of 
which is in the City Register's office. As it is only a 
manuscript copy, the author simply gives the record for 
what it is worth, not having seen the original records. The 
son evidently died young as he is not mentioned in his 
father's will. The daughter, Emily, did not survive her 
father. 

'Boston Marriages. 1800 to 1849. Page 418. 

"Boston Deaths. 18:0 to 1848. 

'Hollis St. Church Records. Baptisms. Manuscript Copy. Page 126. 

'Ibid. Page 134. 
'"Massachusetts Vital Records. State House, Marriages 1855. 
"Middlesex Probate 37383. 



96 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

Having amassed quite a comfortable fortune, Aaron 
Willard, Jr., decided to give up his business and retire. He 
began to sell his estate 13 and gradually closed out his business. 
Having sold his place at No. 815 Washington St., he lived 
for a year or so at his father's old place at No. 843 Washing- 
ton St. 13 He purchased an estate in Newton," Mass., and 
removed to that place about 1850, where he lived until his 
death. Whether he made any clocks in Newton, the author 
is unable to say, but it is more than probable he did not. 
In some deeds ,5 he calls himself gentleman, no occupation 
mentioned. As he was passionately fond of gardening he 
probably amused himself by farming. His place in Newton 
was what is now called Oak Hill." 

Aaron Willard, Jr., made the Timepiece, Hall clock, 
Regulator, and Gallery clock, and conducted a general 
repair business. Timepieces with his name on the dial do 
not appear until 1823, at which time Aaron Willard, Jr., 
took over his father's business. He made the Timepiece in 
great quantities. He often made the bezel case of wood, 
something that Simon Willard never did. Aaron, Jr., did 
not have as fine front glasses painted for his Timepieces as 
did Simon Willard, as he was making a cheaper grade of 
clock. He, however, was inclined to use a little gilding 
on his Timepieces, and commonly added a base-piece, 
something Simon Willard never did, except on his Gift 
Clocks. Aaron Willard, Sr. and Jr., imitated the Gift Clock 

"Suffolk Deeds. Vol. 545. Page 263. 

"Boston Directory. 1848-49. 

"Middlesex Deeds. Vol. 613. Page 474. 

"Middlesex Deeds. Vol. 608. Page 613. Vol. 684. Page 277. 

"Middlesex Probate. 37383. 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 97 

in a way, but never had the beautiful front glasses or the 
white enamelling. 

One variety of Timepiece, original with Aaron Willard, 
Jr., was the so-called Lyre clock, of which Plate 33 is a good 
example. This type has been erroneously attributed to Simon 
Willard and Aaron Willard, Sr. It was peculiar to Aaron, 
Jr., and he made them in great variety and quantity after he 
took over his father's business. Some had solid mahogany 
cases, some carved mahogany, as in Plate 33, and others 
had painted glass fronts. This style of clock was occasion- 
ally imitated by later clock-makers. Aaron Willard, Jr., 
employed a good many workmen, and turned out large 
numbers of clocks. The author has seen a Timepiece of his 
numbered 3482. He made the Church or Turret clock, 
although it is probable he did not make very many of them. 
The author has seen only one. This is in the tower of the 
West Church (Evangelical Congregational), Grafton, Mass. 



HENRY WILLARD. 

Henry 6 Willard, son of Aaron 6 and his second wife, 
Mary (Partridge) Willard, was born in Boston, May 1, 1802. 1 
Birth was also recorded in Roxbury. 2 He married, Oct. 16, 
1831, Frances A. Williams. 3 There seems to have been only 
one child born of this marriage, Mary A. E. H. Willard, 
birth not recorded, but in 1863 this name is recorded as 
being the daughter of Henry and Frances A. Willard, age 
24. 4 Henry Willard is said to have married a second time, 
but the author can find no record of the second marriage, 
or the deaths of the first or second wives. 

Henry Willard was an apprentice of William Fisk, a 
noted cabinet-maker, who had a shop near Aaron Willard. 
He lived for the greater part of his life at No. 843 Washing- 
ton St., Boston Neck, working at his trade which was 
cabinet-making, his specialty being clock-case making." In 
1847, Henry Willard removed to Canton," Mass., making 
clock-cases for Simon Willard, Jr., & Son, and also running 
a farm, which was directly under the shadow of Great Blue 
Hill. 7 In 1887, he went to Boston, where he died the same 
year. 8 Henry Willard was a notable cabinet-maker and did 
very fine work. He made clock-cases for his father, Aaron 
Willard, and his brother, Aaron Willard, Jr., William Cum- 

•Boston Births. 1800 to 1849. Page 306. 
s Roxbury Births. 1632 to 1844. 
'Roxbury Marriages. 1632 to i860. 
'Boston Marriages for 1863. No. 1262. 
'Boston Directories. 1825 to 1847. 
•Norfolk Deeds. Vol. 172. Page 20. 
'Norfolk Deeds. Vol. 584. Page 361. 
•Boston Deaths for 1887. No. 7782. 

98 



Simon Willard and his Clocks 99 

mens, Elnathan Taber, Simon Willard, Jr., & Son, but he 
did not make them for Simon Willard. He made a model 
of his father's place on Boston Neck (Page 88). This was 
for a long time perched on a pole on Henry Willard's place 
in Canton, Mass. This model is probably owned by the 
Hemmenway Estate, which bought the place. 6 

•Norfolk Deeds. Vol. 595. Pages 635-636. 



EPHRAIM WILLARD. 

Ephraim 5 Willard, eighth son of Benjamin 4 and Sarah 
(Brooks) Willard, was born in Grafton, Mass., March 18, 
1755. 1 Nothing is known of his early life in Grafton, except 
that he was there in 1775, when he marched in response to 
the Lexington alarm. His record is as follows: 2 

"Ephraim Willard, Grafton, Private. Capt. Aaron" "Kimball's co 
of Militia [Col] Artemas Ward's regt, which" "marched in response to the 
alarm of April 19, 1775, said" "Willard marched April 19, 1775, discharged 
April 29." "service 1 week, 5 days, reported returned home." 

The first definite information as to his residence and 
occupation is in 1777. At this date he appears in Medford, 3 
Mass., as a clock and watch-maker, and in company with a 
William Gowen of Medford, Mass., goldsmith, buys a tract 
of land in Grafton, Mass., of Daniel Willard, and in 1778, 
sells the same to an Ebenezer Hall/ Jr., of Medford. In each 
of these transactions his occupation is given as a clock- 
maker, and his residence in Medford, and no wife men- 
tioned. He appears to be in partnership with this William 
Gowen. The writer can find no mention of Ephraim 
Willard in any of the Medford Records or Histories. How 
long he remained in Medford is not known, but in 1798, 
he is recorded as a resident of Roxbury, 6 Mass. He might 
have been married about this time for the birth of a son to 

'Original Grafton Records. Births. Vol. I. Page 206. 

Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolution. Vol. 17. Page 383. 

: 'Worcester Deeds. Vol. 78. Page 255. 

'Worcester Deeds. Vol. 80. Page 130. 

"Worcester Deeds. Vol. 141. Pp. 288-289. 



100 



PLATE 34 








EPHRAIM WILLARD 

THEODORE W. GORE 
AUBURNDALE, MASS. 



HALL CLOCKS OWNED BY 



WILLIAM CUMMENS 

HENRY CLAPP KENDALL 
Dorchester. Mass 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 101 

Ephraim and Hepzibah Willard, June 24, 1779, is recorded 
in Roxbury," but the author can find no record of the marriage. 

About 1801, he removes to Boston, and is recorded as 
buying in Sheafs Lane, now West St., but in the deeds calls 
himself a merchant. 7 In the Assessors' Lists, however, his 
occupation is given as clock-maker," and he is assessed for 
2 polls, and $300 real estate. In a deed dated Jan. 6, 1801, 
his wife's name appears for the first time signing herself 
as Hepsee Willard." After this his occupation is given as 
merchant, although he might have carried on the clock- 
making business as a side line, as in 1803 he is spoken of 
in a certain transaction as clock-maker, otherwise trader. 18 

In 1805 appears the last record of Ephraim Willard's 
stay in Boston," and all positive knowledge of him is lost 
except that he is known to have removed to New York City. 
The author had an opportunity recently to look over the 
manuscript of Joseph Willard, author of the Willard Memoir, 
and Ephraim Willard was noted as having moved to New 
York. The author has obtained very little satisfaction in 
his attempts to obtain information about Ephraim Willard in 
New York. Inquiry at the Department of Health gave no 
information, and no record of will could be found at the 
Surrogate's office. 

Search of the New York City directories gives the name 
of an Ephraim Willard, shipmaster, living at 55 Elizabeth 
St., from 1811 to as late as 1815-6, but his name does not 

•Roxbury Births. 1632 to 1844. 

'Suffolk Deeds. Vol. 196. Page 179. 

"Assessors' List of Ward 12. May, 1801. Page 5. 

•Suffolk Deeds. Vol. 196. Page 178. 
'"Suffolk Deeds. Vol. 205. Page 119. 
"Suffolk Deeds. Vol. 210. Page 267. 



102 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

appear for the next few years. In the 1825-6 directory, the 
same name appears, giving his occupation as watch-maker, 
and the address as 56i Bowery, and the name appears with 
variations of address until the 1832-3 directory, at which 
time he lived at 180 Forsyth St. As it does not seem probable 
that a ship-master would become a watch-maker, the second 
Ephraim Willard may have been a son of the former, or he 
may have been the Ephraim Willard from Boston, or his son. 
After 1833, the name disappears. He may have removed to 
some other locality, which in view of his inclination to 
wander, is not unlikely. As the author was unable to make 
a personal search of the New York City Records, he was 
obliged to let the matter rest here, hoping at some future 
time more information might be obtained. 

Of Ephraim Willard's early life in Grafton, whom he 
was apprenticed to, or if he was in business with any of his 
brothers, the author has no knowledge whatever. In fact, 
the most diligent search has failed to throw any light on 
the early life of any of the brothers. It is more than likely, 
however, that he learned his trade of either Benjamin or 
Simon. That there was a fourth brother in the business in 
this clock-making family was a great surprise to the author. 
It was not until the discovery of a quit-claim deed where 
nearly all the family with their residences and occupations 
were given," that the fact became known. The author's 
father, Z. A. Willard, states that he never heard of Ephraim 
Willard, and never heard his father or grandfather mention 
him, in any way, and also he had never seen or heard of any 
clocks made by him. 

"Worcester Deeds. Vol. 141. Pp. 288-289. 



Simon WlLLARD and His Clocks 103 

Although Kphraim Willard appears to have been in 
the clock-making business for over twenty-years, clocks made 
by him seem to be very rare. The author has seen only one. 
This clock (Plate 34) from information given the author 
seems to have been made perhaps between 1780 and 1795.'" 
It is in very good condition, made with a seconds hand, 
and has a nicely decorated dial; the case is of mahogany, 
inlaid; the brass top ornaments are probably original. Judg- 
ing from this one clock, Ephraim Willard appears to have 
made a fair clock. The author has no knowledge that 
Ephraim Willard ever made the Half Clock or the Timepiece. 
He evidently made only the Hall Clock. He seems to have 
been as great a wanderer as his brother Benjamin 1 Willard. 

'"( Jene.ilojMc .1 notes given l>y Ml Theodore W. (Jure, Anliiu mt.ilr, M;isv 



LEVI AND ABEL HUTCHINS. 

Simon Willard had many apprentices; for his great 
reputation naturally drew many young men to his work- 
shop. The author has endeavored to ascertain the names 
of the various apprentices of Simon Willard, but has only 
succeeded in finding five about which there is no doubt. 
There were others, but nothing authentic can be found 
about them. The two brothers, Levi and Abel Hutchins, 
children of Gordon and Dorothy (Stone) Hutchins, were 
born in Harvard, Mass. 1 

Levi, August 16, 176 1. 1 
Abel, March 16, 1763. 1 

Levi Hutchins says, a 

"My brother and I, entertaining a desire to learn the same trade, com- 
menced our apprenticeship at nearly the same time, [1783]. The name of 
the ingenious man of whom we learned this business was Simon Willard of 
Roxbury, Mass. One trait in his character was, I think, caution. For 
instance, during a thunder storm he was particular in requiring his men 
and apprentices to suspend work in the Shop, believing there was much 
danger to be apprehended on such occasions from the action of electricity 
when using files and metallic tools. After three years apprenticeship under 
Mr. Willard, I went to Abington, Ct., where I served eight months to 
acquire some knowledge of the art of repairing watches. 

Shortly afterwards I returned to Concord, hired a Shop on Main St., 
purchased materials and established the business of brass clock-making, no 
person having before undertaken this enterprise in New Hampshire. Soon 

'History of the Town of Harvard, Mass. 1732-1893. Henry S. Nourse, A. M. Page 555. 
'Autobiography of Levi Hutchins, by his youngest son, privately printed, Cambridge, 1865, 
Page 53, 56. 

104 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 105 

after his marriage in 1788, my brother Abel became my partner in the 
clock-making business, and our shop stood a little in the rear of a large well 
finished dwelling house, three stories high, which we jointly purchased and 
occupied, with our families; situated in the central part of the Main Village 
on the eastern side of the road or Street. Peabody Atkinson and Jesse Smith 
were two of our apprentices, my brother and I were successful in our 
business. We carried on clock-making together twenty-one years. Our 
names may now be seen on the faces of many timekeepers and probably 
there are eight-day clocks or timepieces of our manufacture in all the original 
thirteen States of the Union, two eight-day clocks we made to order, and sent 
to the West Indies." 

Levi Hutchins died June 13, 1855. Ae 93 years, 9 months, 26 days. 4 
Abel Hutchins died April 4, 1853. Ae 90 years, 19 days. 5 

The Hutchins made the tall Hall clock, and the Half 
or Shelf clock and undoubtedly made the Timepiece, although 
the author has never seen one bearing the Hutchins' stamp. 
Specimens of the tall Hall clock made by the Hutchins are 
quite common. 

4 Ibid Page 184. 
s Ibid. Page 162. 



ELNATHAN TABER. 



Elnathan Taber, Simon Willard's best apprentice, was 
a native of Dartmouth, Mass., a son of Thomas and Elizabeth 
(Swift) Taber. 1 In the Roxbury Records is found the fol- 
lowing entry: 

" Elnathan Taber, son of Thomas and Elizabeth Taber, born at 
Dartmouth, in the county of Bristol, the 14th of February, 1768. 2 " 

It was the custom in those days when a stranger arrived in 
town, to be recorded 
by the Town Author- 
ities, which would ac- 
count for the entry 
in the records. There 
is no evidence to show 
whether Taber's par- 
ents came with him or 
not. Drake 3 says, 
" Taber Street, origin- 
ally named Union, laid 
out in 1802, was named 
after Elnathan Taber, 
a native of New Bed- 
ford, who came to 
Roxbury at the age 
of sixteen, served as 
an apprentice at Aaron Willard's, and was the first resident 

'Extract from a letter from Mr. F. E. Smith, Roxbury, Mass., to the author. 
'Rox. Rec. B. D. & M. 1630 to 1785, Manuscript Copy. Page 100. 
"Town of Roxbury. R. C. Vol. 34. Page 107. 

106 




PLATE 35 





ELNATHAN TABER 

F. E. SMITH 
Roxbury, Mass. 



TIMEPIECES OWNED BY 



WILLIAM CUMMENS 

FRANCIS H. BIGELOW 
Cambridge, Mass. 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 107 

on the street." The author has been informed by a 
relative 4 of Taber's, that young Taber was nineteen when 
he arrived in Roxbury, but there is no documentary evi- 
dence to show which is correct. Taber evidently bought 
his place on Union Street about the time it was laid out.' 
Drake is greatly in error in saying Elnathan Taber was 
apprenticed to Aaron Willard. He was apprenticed to Simon 
Willard. The author has the authority for this, on the state- 
ment of his father, Z. A. Willard, who was well acquainted 
with Taber, who often told him that he was apprenticed to 
Simon Willard, and described his experiences there, and 
often heard Simon Willard himself say Elnathan Taber was 
his apprentice. 

Taber was a life-long friend of Simon Willard and when 
Willard retired from business, bought most of his tools and 
the good-will of the business. There is no evidence to show 
just when Taber was apprenticed, but he set up in business 
for himself as soon as his time was out. 

He married, January 8, 1797, Catherine Partridge.' She 
died Nov. 24, 1859, ae 85 years, 11 months 12 days." He 
died Feb. 27, 1854, ae 86.* 

Children of Elnathan and Catherine Taber. 

Thomas, born, Roxbury, March 23, 1797. 7 Died, July 2, 1878." 

Catherine, born, Roxbury, April 7, 1802. 7 

Elizabeth Bourne, born, Roxbury, March 20, 1807. 7 

Abigail Haskell, born, Roxbury, Dec. 29, 181 1. 7 Died, May 1, 1834." 

'Norfolk Deeds. Vol. 15. Page 168. 
'Roxbury Marriages. 1632 to i860. 
'Roxbury Deaths. 1633 to i860. 
; Roxbury Births. 1632 to 1844. 
'Boston Deaths for 1878. No. 3792. 



108 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 



His place on Taber St. was a very pretty one, consisting 
of a dwelling house (part of which was still standing in 
1905) with a garden and cherry trees in front, and at one 
side of the house was a small workshop where he made his 
clocks. Taber made a most excellent clock, fully as good 
as Simon Willard. He made the tall Hall Clock, Half 
Clock, and the Timepiece. A very good example of his 
Timepiece is shown in Plate 35. The glass front is thought 
to have been painted by Charles Bullard, and the dial has 
the inscription: " Elnathan Taber. 1840." 

Like Simon Willard, Elnathan Taber was a tireless 
worker, and worked literally up to the day of his death. An 
abstract from the inventory" of his property is given here as 
showing how few tools the old time clock-makers seemed 
to work with. 



Lot of old Files 


$5-00 


Lot of Hammers 


$2.00 


$7.00 


Screw plates 


5.00 


Two Hand Lathers and saws 


1.50 


6.50 


Old Brass 


I.50 


Sundry lots in brass 


1. 00 


2.50 


Time-piece case 


.50 


Iron stakes, squares, etc. 


1. 00 


1.50 


Chest and contents 


•75 


Three iron vises 


3-75 


4.50 


One Lathe 


•25 


Cutting Engine 


10.00 


10.25 


Depthing tool 


5.00 


Regulator movement 


4.00 


9.00 


Large chest 


1.25 


Show case 


3-5° 


4-75 


Money scales and eye 










glass, thermometer 


1. 00 


Time-piece 


2.00 


3.00 


Six old clocks 


6.00 


Boxes $2.00, Old iron 


1. 00 


9.00 


Eight day brass clock 








25.00 


David P. Davis 


] 








Daniel Jackson 


V Appraisers." 






Joseph Bugbee 


J 








•Norfolk Probate 17792. 











PLATE 36 





TIMEPIECE 
WILLIAM KING LEMIST 

OWNED BY 

HENRY CLAP KENDALL 
Dorchester 



GRAVITY CLOCK 
PHILANDER J. WILLARD 



OWNED BY 



EDWIN K. JOHNSON 
Ashby. Mass 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 109 

The cutting engine mentioned in the inventory is the 
one Elnathan Taber bought of Simon Willard when he 
retired from business in 1839. It is given a particularly low 
valuation. After Simon Willard's retirement, Elnathan Taber 
made clocks for Simon Willard, Jr., & Son, from 1838 to 1854. 
His son, Thomas Taber, continued his father's business, but 
the author has never seen or heard of any clocks made by 
him, and the author's father states that Thomas Taber never 
made any clocks for Simon Willard, Jr., & Son. 



WILLIAM CUMMENS. 

William Cummens (also spelled in records as Cummins, 
Cummings, Cummengs, Comins), is supposed to have been 
a native of Roxbury, but the writer has been unable to find 
any definite record of his parents, or his birth, although per- 
haps he was the son of Jacob and Sarah (Bugbee) Cummens.' 
He was born about 1768. He was another of Simon Willard's 
apprentices, but just when apprenticed, the writer has been 
unable to ascertain, perhaps about the same time with 
Elnathan Taber. He lived on the " northwest corner of 
Taber and Winslow Streets, 2 " where he engaged in clock- 
making after serving his apprenticeship. He made all his 
clocks in a little room in his house, which was a quaint one- 
story building with an attic, not having a shop like Taber. 

He married in Roxbury, March 10th, 1793, Polly Mayo.' 
She died in Roxbury, April 29, 1832, ae 69/ He died in 
Roxbury, April 20, 1834, ae 66; 

Children of William and Polly Cummens. 

William, born, Roxbury, Sept. 15, 1 793.° 

Sally, born, Roxbury, July 1, 1795. 8 Died, Roxbury, Jan. 15, 1862.' 

Mary, born, Roxbury, Nov. 10, 1798. 6 Died, Roxbury, Jan. 24, 1862/ 

Very little is known about his son William. He was 
known to have assisted his father in his business, and his 
name appears as a witness in a deed executed by his father 

'Rox. B. M. & D. 1630 to 1785. Manuscript Copy. Page 161. 
J Drake, Town of Roxbury. R. C. Vol. 34. Page 207. 
'Roxbury Marriages. 1632 to i860. 
'Roxbury Deaths. 1633 to i860. 
'Roxbury Births. 1632 to 1 844. 
•Roxbury Deaths, i860 to 1867. 

no 



PLATE 37 



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(I) 





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PLATE 38 




Simon Willard and His Clocks m 

in 1816, 7 after which there is no further record of him, that 
the author can find, and no mention of him is made in the 
administration of William Cummens' estate; only the names 
of the two daughters appear. 8 The inventory of his property 
speaks of his house and land lying between Summer and 
Union Streets, Roxbury. Among the inventory of his per- 
sonal estate is the following: 

29 Timepieces complete — $10.00 $290. 

Clock-makers tools and sundries in shop 85. 

Appraisers. 

Elijah Lewis. 

Elnathan Taber. 

Aaron D. Williams. 

Not a very high valuation is given on the Timepieces 
which would bring four times the amount to-day, and again 
will be noticed the small value for the tools. It will be ob- 
served that Elnathan Taber, his near neighbor, is one of 
the appraisers. William Cummens was the owner of Pew 
No. 21, lower floor, Fifth Meeting House, Roxbury, in 
1793.' The family is probably extinct. 

William Cummens made a very good clock, making the 
Hall Clock, Half Clock, and Timepiece. Good specimens of 
his work are in existence, but are not often found. The 
clock (Plate 35) is a good specimen of his Timepiece, 
although the brass eagle on top is not the original orna- 
ment. It has very finely painted glass fronts in very bright 
colors, which are thought to be Charles Bullard's work. The 
tall Hall Clock, made in 1798 (Plate 34), is a very fine sped- 

'Norfolk Deeds. Vol. 52. Page 27 

'Norfolk Probate No. 4785. 

'History of First Church in Roxbury. W. E. Thwing. Page 202. 



112 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

men of William Cummens' work. It is unusually tall for a 
clock of this kind, so much so as to be unique. The case, 
a very fine one, was made by Stephen Badlam (1751-1815), 
a cabinet-maker at Lower Mills, Dorchester. William 
Cummens generally had the inscription: " Warranted by 
William Cummens, Roxbury," on his clock dials. 



WILLIAM KING LEMIST. 

For a long time the author has thought that Elnathan 
Taber was the last of Simon Willard's apprentices it would 
be possible to identify and give an account of. Recently, 
however, inquiries were made of the author about a William 
Lemist supposed to have been a clock-maker in Roxbury, 
early in the nineteenth century. After an exhaustive in- 
quiry the author has found sufficient evidence to justify him 
in including Lemist as one of Simon Willard's apprentices. 
William King Lemist, one of a family of twelve children, 
was born in Dorchester, April 18, 1791,' the son of John 
and Hannah (King) Lemist. 2 His brother, John Lemist, 3 
lived nearly opposite Simon Willard, 4 and the two families 
were quite intimate, and there seems to be no doubt that 
William Lemist was apprenticed to Simon Willard, probably 
about 1806 or 1808. The author quotes a part of a letter in 
regard to this: 5 

"I have talked with my sister concerning the facts in your letter about 
William Lemist, she says that our Mother 6 always spoke of William Lemist 
as learning his trade of Simon Willard." 

Lemist made a clock in 1812 as a wedding present for 
his sister, Hannah,' who married Henry Clap of Dorchester, 

•R. C Vol. 21. Page 206. 

2 R. C. Vol. 21. Page 237. 

a R. C Vol. 21. Page 198. 

<R. C. Vol. 34. Page 154- 

'Letter from Mr. Henry Clap Kendall, Dorchester. 

•Hannah Lemist Clap, daughter of Henry and Hannah Clap. R. C Vol. 21. Page 317. 

Married Volney Kendall. R. C. Vol.36. Page 153. 
'R. C Vol. 21. Page 340. 

1 '3 



114 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

the same year. This clock, marked " William Lemist, 1812," 
is still in existence, and is highly valued by the family. 

William Lemist did not continue in the business long 
after serving his apprenticeship. 

" His health was poor and lie went on a sea voyage for improvement. 
The name of the vessel we do not remember, but my mother did. He was 
wrecked or died in the wreck of the ship off the coast of Africa, Oct., 1820, 
aged 29 years. This is copied from family records in possession of my 
sister. 

William Lemist's life was so short that he evidently 
made very few clocks. Apparently he made only the Time- 
piece (Plate 36). There is no evidence he ever made the tall 
Hall clock or the Half clock. This clock is in good con- 
dition and shows that Lemist followed very closely the 
methods of his teacher, Simon Willard. The method of lock- 
ing the door of the clock, the fastening of the dial by little 
hooks, and the shape of the hands are all copied from his 
teacher. The front of the clock has an enamelled and 
gilded moulding. The dial has the inscription: " Made by 
William Lemist, 1812." The glass paintings are somewhat 
worn, but still show the original design. The centrepiece 
has a small medallion of a frigate under full sail. The artist 
who painted the glass is not known, but from its general 
design, the author is inclined to think it was painted by 
the artist who painted for the Aaron Willards. Very cur- 
iously his brother John Lemist was lost in the burning of 
the steamer Lexington, in Long Island Sound, Jan. 13, 1840.° 

"Letter from Henry Clap Kendall, Dorchester. 
•Rox. Rec. Deaths. 1633 to 1844. 



CHARLES BULLARD. 

Charles Bullard, a native of Dedham, Mass., son of 
William and Lydia (Whiting) Bullard,' was born August 
13, 1794.' He married, November 10, 1822, Elizabeth Paul 
of Dedham. 3 She died May 21, 1884/ He died July 29, 
1871. 5 

Children of Charles and Elizabeth Bullard. 

Ann Elizabeth, born, Roxbury, Nov. 5, 1823." 
Charles Otis, born, Roxbury, Sept. 5, 1825." 
Mary Lewis, born, Roxbury, April 30, 1827." 

Charles Bullard was the apprentice and successor of the 
English artist who painted the glass fronts and clock dials 
for Simon Willard. Just when he was apprenticed and 
where he worked while an apprentice, the writer has been 
unable to ascertain, but it was somewhere in Roxbury. 
After the expiration of his apprenticeship, Charles Bullard 
set up in business for himself. He had a shop at or in rear 
of No. 843 Washington St., Boston Neck. 7 He continued 
in this shop from 1816 to 1844, 7 advertising as an ornamental 
painter. He evidently had his residence in Roxbury, as in 
1822 he is mentioned as being in Roxbury, and in 1824, he 
is taxed in the second parish of Roxbury for $1.00 poll, 

'Dedham Records. B. M. & D. 1635 to "845- Page 206. 

J Ibid. Page 142. 

'Ibid. Page 180. 

'Dedham Records. Abstract of deaths. 1844101890. Page 20. No. 69. 

'Ibid. Page 20. No. 67. 

'Roxbury Births. 1632 to 1844. 

'Boston Directories. 1816 to 1844. 



116 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

and $266.67, personal," and the births of his children are 
all recorded in Roxbury. 

At his shop on Washington St., Charles Bullard did 
work for all the surrounding clock-makers and doubtless 
for many of those out of town. After 1844 on the general 
breaking up of the clock-making colony on Boston Neck, 
Charles Bullard returned to Dedham, where he lived on 
Chestnut St.," until his death. 

Charles Bullard did very beautiful work, the decorating 
of his clock dials being especially fine. In his painting of 
glass fronts for Timepieces, although his work was very 
fine, he never quite approached the beauty of his English 
teacher's work. Like his teacher, Charles Bullard painted 
exclusive designs for Simon Willard's Timepieces (Plates 21 
and 22). The writer has never seen them on any other clock- 
makers' timepieces. Charles Bullard painted glass fronts 
for the Aaron Willards, William Cummens, Elnathan Taber, 
and many others, but in painting for these he followed an 
entirely different line of designs. After Simon Willard's 
retirement in 1839, Charles Bullard was employed by Simon 
Willard, Jr., & Son to paint clock dials. He continued to 
do work for them after he returned to Dedham. His last 
work for them as recorded by an entry in their books, was 
Oct. 16, 1865, for decorating a clock dial. He left no suc- 
cessor in the business that the author can find, although it 
is probable he had apprentices. 

"Roxbury Tax Lists, tor 1824. Second Parish. 
'Dedham Tax Lists. First Parish. 1870. Page 7. 



WILLIAM FISK. 

William Fisk, son of Samuel and Abigail (White) Fisk, 
was born in Watertown, Mass., Dec. 20, 1770. ' He, with his 
elder brother, Samuel, born in Watertown, Sept. 24, 1769,' 
first appears in Roxbury, Mass., in 1792, giving their place 
of residence as Roxbury, and stating their occupation as 
cabinet-makers. 2 Some time after 1796, they moved to 
Boston, on the Neck,' where they had a shop next to Aaron 
Willard. 

Samuel Fisk, who had married in 1794, Hannah Bab- 
cock of Milton,' died in 1797/' and William Fisk continued 
in the business at the same place until he died." His place 
is described in 1798, as being "a lot of land, 30,000 square 
feet with a shop thereon 40 x 20, next to Aaron Willard, 7 
and a lot of land with dwelling house, barn, etc., next to 
land of John Davis, Washington St., Boston Neck."" It 
was not until 1825° that houses began to be numbered to 
any extent on Boston Neck, when William Fisk is recorded 
as having his shop at No. 841 Washington St. and his dwell- 
ing house at No. 839. These numbers continued unchanged 
until his death. 

William Fisk married, May 8, 1794, Eunice White of 

'Bond Genealogical History of Watertown. 2nd Edition. Page 212, 213. 

•Suffolk Deeds. Vol. 173. Page 261. 

^Suffolk Deeds. Vol. 183. Page 242. 

'R. C Vol. 30. Page 464. 

'Suffolk Probate. Vol. 95. Pp. 29, 42, ior 

"Boston Directories. 1798 to 1844. 

7 R. C Vol. 22. Page 107. 

"Ibid. Page 410. 

'Boston Directory for 1825. 

•17 



118 SIMON WILLARD AND HIS CLOCKS 

Watertown.' He died June 11, 1844." In his later years 
he seems to have changed his occupation, for in his will 
he calls himself a surveyor." He had a large family. 13 

William Fisk had a great reputation as a cabinet-maker. 
He made nearly all of Simon Willard's clock-cases from 
about 1800 to 1838, and also made them for the Aaron 
Willards and other clock-makers. His work was very 
fine, although his specialty was furniture, especially inlaid 
work. He had many apprentices. The author has been 
unable to ascertain whom William Fisk and his brother were 
apprenticed to, unless perhaps it was to Nehemiah Munroe, 
a cabinet-maker who lived in Roxbury." 

■°R. C. Vol. 30. Page 321. 

"Boston Deaths. 1810 to 1848. 

''Suffolk Probate. Vol. 142. Page 392. 

"Bond Genealogical History of Watertown. 2nd Edition. Page 213. 

"Drake. R. C Vol. 34. Pp. 159. 



CHARLES CRANE CREHORE. 

Son of John Shephard Crehore and Hannah (Lyon) 
Crehore, was born at Dorchester, October 8, 1793.' He lived 
in Milton the early part of his life, and probably learned his 
trade of his father, who had a chair manufactory on the 
Lyman Davenport place. 2 He married, October 1, 1826, 
Chloe B. Hartwell, of Canton, 3 Mass. He was a very fine 
cabinet-maker. He made the cases for the clocks made by 
Simon Willard, Jr., and Benjamin F. Willard, (Plate 25), 
and also some for Simon Willard, Sr., and many other 
clock-makers. He moved to Boston about 1858, residing 
at 98 Charles St. 1 He died in Boston, February 12, 1879/ 
He left no successor to his business. 

'Milton Records. B. M. & D. 1662 to 1848. Page 19. 

'History of Milton. Page 178. 

'Canton, Mass. B. M. & D. 1715 to 1845. Page 2<M- 

'Boston Directory for 1858. 

'Boston Deaths for 1879. No. 951. 



"9 



THE WILLARD FAMILY 

OF ASHBURNHAM AND ASHBY, MASS., 

CLOCK-MAKERS. 

There seems to be very little known about this family, 
two of whom, Philander Jacob Willard and Alexander 
Tarbell Willard, brothers, carried on a prosperous business 
for over fifty years in Ashburnham and Ashby. They have 
often been confused with the Willards of Grafton, Mass. 
Stearns, in his History of Ashburnham, gives a brief account 
of them, but outside of this, the author was unable to find 
out much about them. Z. A. Willard says he never heard 
of them, and has never seen any of their clocks. 

Desirous of getting more information about them, the 
author visited Ashby, and was fortunate enough to meet Mr. 
Edwin K. Johnson, a resident of that town, who was an 
intimate friend of the Willard brothers. Mr. Johnson gave 
the author much valuable information, and showed all the 
places of interest connected with them. This has enabled 
the author to give a fuller and more interesting history of 
this branch of clock-makers, than he had hoped for. 
They were sons 1 of Jacob' Willard (Henry 4 Henry 3 Henry 2 
Simon ')» and like the Willards of Grafton, were lineal 
descendants of Major Simon Willard. Jacob 5 Willard was 
born in Harvard, Mass., July 20, 1734, son of Henry' and 
Abigail (Fairbank) Willard. 2 He moved to Ashburnham, 
where he carried on the occupation of farming. He married 

'History of Ashburnham, Mass. Ezra S. Stearns. Pages 980-981. 
'History of Harvard, Mass. Henry S. Noursc. Page 573. 

120 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 121 

July 25, 1771, 3 Rhoda Randall of Stow, Mass. He died 
Feb. 22, 1808/ 

Children of Jacob and Rhoda (Randall) Willard. 

Philander Jacob, born, Sept. 29, 1772. 4 
Alexander Tarbell, born, Nov. 4, 1774 4 
Ame, born, Dec. 18, 1777. 1 
Katy, born May 24, 1781. 4 

The two brothers spent their boyhood on their father's 
farm in Ashburnham, which was very near the Ashby line. 
The old homestead was burned down some years ago. They 
had a limited education, such as the district school fur- 
nished, and their mechanical faculties developed early. 
They seem to have been intimate friends from the first with 
a family named Edwards, who lived in Ashby. Two of 
these, Abraham and Calvin Edwards, were gold- and silver- 
smiths. Calvin, from 1789 to 1797, 5 when he died. Abraham 
seems to have abandoned the goldsmith's business in 1794,° 
and taken up clock-making, which he carried on up to 
the time of his death in 1840. 7 The author was under the 
impression that Philander J. and Alexander T. Willard 
were apprentices of the Edwards, but Mr. Johnson says 
they were not, they taught themselves. The author gives 
the following extract from a letter from Mr. Johnson in 
regard to Abraham Edwards: 

"Abraham Edwards once lived upon the place now owned (1901) by 
Mr. Frank W. Wright. When Mr. Edwards came to Ashby, he made pewter 

'Ibid. Page 514. 

'Ashburnham Vital Records. 

'Middlesex Deeds. Vol.100. Page 401. Vol.104. Page 490. Vol. 112. Page 426. 

•Middlesex Deeds. Vol.115. Pages 475-479. 

'Middlesex Probate. 23788. 



122 S*MON WlLLARD AND HIS CLOCKS 

buttons. Afterwards he (after taking an old clock to pieces) established 
clock-making in the village of Ashby. Upon the face of his clocks was a 
picture of his house with a horse-chestnut upon either side. West of his 
house was a shed, a clock-shop, a store, and a barn, all connected. When 
Mr. Edwards first came to Ashby he boarded with Lieu. Barrett. 

This sketch of Mr. Edwards was told to the daughter (Mrs. L. 
Clementine Gates) of Mr. Jonas Barrett Damon, who worked for Mr. 
Edwards helping him to make the clocks. 

The author is inclined to think that these Edwards 
might possibly be related to John 2 Edwards (16. .-1746), s 
the celebrated silversmith of Boston, Mass. It would be 
of interest to know if they were. 

•Suffolk Probate. Vol. 38. Pages 514, 515. 



PHILANDER JACOB WILLARD 

Eldest son of Jacob 5 and Rhoda (Randall) Willard, was 
born in Ashburnham, Sept. 29, 1772. ' His boyhood was 
spent on his father's farm. Just when he began clock- 
making is not known, but he made clocks in Ashburnham 
until 1825. In 1796, he married Rhoda Wheeler, 1 born in 
Ashby, Oct. 18, 1773. They were divorced ' and he married, 
2nd, Hannah Parker Snow of Dublin, N. H. 2 He died in 
Ashby, Dec. 26, 1840. 1 

Child of Philander Jacob and Hannah (Parker) Willard. 

Augustine Horace, born May 18, 1809. 2 

This is the only child found recorded. In 1825, Phil- 
ander J. Willard moved to Ashby, and was associated with 
his brother Alexander T. Willard in the clock-making busi- 
ness until his death in 1840. He did not have a separate 
house, but lived with his brother. 

Philander J. Willard was a very fine workman. The 
author quotes a portion of a letter from Mr. Edwin K. 
Johnson in regard to him: 

" I would say in my note to you I did not write very much of Philander 
Jacob Willard, but I did not intend to give the credit all to Alexander 
Tarbell Willard, for Philander Jacob Willard had not only the ingenuity, 
but that persistent faculty and patience, a worker always at his desk, and if 
I was asked which I called the greater I should say Jacob. He made my 
clock. I think he spent as many as five years on the clock." 

This clock (Plate 36) is quite a curiosity and was called 

'Stearns. History of Ashburnham. Pages 980-981. 
'Ashburnham Vital Records. 

* 2 3 



124 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

by the maker a Perpetual Motion clock. It may be de- 
scribed as a gravity clock. The case is made of mahogany, 
about twenty-two inches long and six inches wide, and is 
in two pieces, a baseboard and the clock proper. The base- 
board is fitted with a square steel peg, about two inches 
long, with a slot at one end. The clock proper has a dial 
six and one-half inches in diameter. The case enclosing 
the movement is of brass, and can be unscrewed to allow 
the works to be examined or cleaned, the whole being 
air-tight. At the back of the case about two-thirds of the 
way up is a slot about six inches long, exposing a steel rod 
with a hole cut to receive the slotted peg of the baseboard; 
the clock is thus suspended on the peg, pendulum-wise, 
being always perpendicular. The steel rod is ratcheted and 
engages cog wheels which actuate an escapement of some 
sort. The back of the case proper is cut out wherever 
possible, and weighted with lead, the whole case weighing 
about thirty pounds. In fact the clock is the weight. To 
start the clock it is hung on the steel peg on the baseboard 
and pushed up as far as the length of the slot in the back 
of the ease will allow. The weight of the clock pulling down 
on the ratcheted rod sets the clock going. It takes about 
four days for the clock to fall the length of the slot, when 
it must be pushed up again. 

The whole clock is a fine piece of workmanship, beauti- 
fully finished. The case is ornamented with mother-of-pearl 
buttons let into the wood, a brass top ornament, and brass 
side arms. It is difficult to understand, however, where the 
perpetual motion comes in. The author gives the above 
description of this clock with some diffidence as he was 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 125 

not allowed to take the clock to pieces to properly examine 
the movement, and also is not an expert in complicated clock 
movements. 

The author also quotes a letter from the present owner, 
Mr. Edwin K. Johnson, in regard to this clock: 

"It was made about one hundred years ago. Mr. Willard intended 
to make it a perpetual motion. He spent about five years on it. Tbere 
is no pendulum, weights, springs, key or winding up to it. I do not 
think there is a man in Boston that could set it going or repair it. The 
clock ran for years in the old shop (Plate tf). When be died the old 
clock stopped. There was no one to start it. It was sent to a noted 
German clock-maker in New York. He never could make it go. Then it 
was sent to Boston. They could not start it. I tried to buy it for fifty 
years. I was in a clock repairer's shop one day, and I saw my old friend, 
the clock. The man stepped out. I went to the clock, and it started 
for me. The man came in, he said be could not start it, and he had 
worked on it for a great while, and I finally bought it for what he asked 
for repairing it." 

The clock was not running when the author looked at 
it, and Mr. Johnson stated that it had not run for a number 
of years. This clock is another instance of how inventors 
incline to complicated mechanism. 



ALEXANDER TARBELL WILLARD 

Youngest son of Jacob 5 and Rhoda (Randall) Willard, 
born in Ashburnham, Nov. 4, 1774. His boyhood was very 
much the same as his brother's, Philander Jacob Willard's. 
He early developed the mechanical faculty, and certainly 
as early as 1796, was making clocks with his brother in 
Ashburnham. In 1800, he removed to Ashby, Mass., where 
he lived until his death. He married Tila Oakes of Co- 
hasset. Marriage published, May 24, 1800. ' She died 
April 17, I860. 2 He died Dec. 4, 1850. They had a large 
family. His will mentions six children. 

Children of Alexander 6 T. and Tila (Oakes) Willard. 

Caroline Cutler. 2 
George A. 3 
Alexander T. 3 
Catherine dishing. 3 
Lysander B. 3 
Charles H. 3 
Emma A. 3 

There are none of the family now resident in Ashby, 
all having either died or moved away. Alexander T. Wil- 
lard became widely known as a manufacturer of clocks. He 
was postmaster of Ashby from 1812 to 1836- In 1805, he, 
associated with others, among them Abraham Edwards, 
incorporated and laid out a turnpike road, called the Ashby 
Turnpike. 4 This road ran from the State line between New 

'Ashburnham Vital Records. 

: Grave Stone. Old Ashby Cemetery. 

'Middlesex Probate. 37384. 

'Laws and Resolves of Massachusetts. 1805. Chapt. 30. Page 436. 

126 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 127 

Hampshire and Massachusetts through Ashby to Townsend 
Plains, Mass. It was a failure, and its failure carried down 
Alexander T. Willard and a dozen others. When he re- 
moved from Ashburnham to Ashby in 1800, he built the 
little factory (Plate 37) which is still standing (1909). Here 
he made all his clocks and other articles. The old dial of 
the clock that advertised his business is still to be seen on 
the building, on the right, close to the door. In 1809, he 
built the house (Plate 38) where he lived until his death. 
This house, largely built of brick, is in excellent preservation 
and was long the show place of the town, and is still con- 
sidered the finest house there. 

Alexander T. Willard and likewise his brother were 
very ingenious and skilful workmen, and did a large busi- 
ness, which was principally on orders. He made the tall 
Hall clock, Wooden clock, Musical clock, Church or Turret 
clock, and the Timepiece. With the exception of the clock 
made by Philander J. Willard (Plate 36), the author has never 
seen any of the clocks made by the Willard brothers, but 
their clocks were well made and were excellent time-keepers.' 
Whether their clocks were marked with their names, the 
author is unable to say. The inventory of the stock and 
tools in the shop of Alexander T. Willard" is given and is 
another illustration of how few tools the clock-makers of 
those times seemed to work with. 

i Lathe and Turning Tools S2.50 Forge bellows and tools for 

3 Clock Engines and Measuring casting $2.00 

Machine 1.00 Framing Tools 1.00 

'Statement by Mr. Edwin K. Johnson. 
"Middlesex Probate. 37384. 



128 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

Watch Lathes and Tools 3.00 Clock-cases and parts of clocks .25 

Lot of files, shears, awls 1.00 1 Clock 1.80 

3 Wooden clocks and cases 3.00 1 Wooden Timepiece 1.50 

1 Brass do. 4.00 4 Clock cases .50 

1 Marble clock 6.00 

Alexander T. Willard was a true Yankee, and did not con- 
fine himself to clock-making exclusively. He also made the 
old-fashioned Theodolite or Compass, Gunters Chains, Scales, 
Timers (the old perambulator or odometer), Seraphines (the 
forerunner of the Reed Organ), Rifles (used to sharpen 
scythes), and repaired watches. 7 His market for clocks was 
western Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire. 
His clocks do not seem to have reached Boston and its 
vicinity, possibly because competition was too great to make 
it an object. None of his children carried on the business 
after his death. 

'Information given by Mr. Edwin K. Johnson. 



CHECK LIST OF SIMON WILLARD CLOCKS. 

1. Turret Clock in First Church Meeting House at 
Dedham, Mass. Had an inscription on the iron frame, 
"Simon Willard, Roxbury, Mass." History. Given to the 
Church by Hon. Edward Dowse and Mrs. Shaw, and was 
set up March, 1820, when the meeting house was being 
remodelled. Now replaced by a modern clock. 

Information from a letter to the author from Julius H. 
Tuttle, Dec. 16, 1907, also see Dedham Historical Register, 
Vol. 5, Page 3, for January, 1894. 

2. Clock on Old State House, State St., Boston, Mass. 
Clock running and in perfect condition. Has the following 
inscription on a brass plate on the frame. 



CHROHQMETER 

( hi _ 



3. Clock for United States Senate Chamber, Washington, 
D. C. Made in 1801. Probably destroyed when the British 
troops burned the Capitol in 1814. See letter (Page 18). 

4. Turret Clock for Jefferson College, Virginia. Made 
from plans and specifications by Thomas Jefferson, 1826. 
Destroyed by fire in 1895. Alumni Bulletin of the University 
of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va. Pages 111, 112, 113. 

129 



130 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

5. Turret Clock for First Church of Roxbury, Mass. 
Made in 1806 for $858. Replaced by a modern clock. 

6. Large Gallery Clock for the inside of same Church. 
Made in 1804. Has original glasses by the English artist, 
full gilded (Plate 23). History of First Church of Roxbury. 
W. E. Thwing. 

7. Turret Clock in Park St. Church, Boston, Mass. 
Made in 18—. Replaced in 1906 by modern clock. 




• :irv op/rut iquiUi: AtviCiackf 

■ .I ,\lr. .Sj*to.v \\*uxiiu> ol \U> 
J»ajtartflVi^hc ioyf*r *rf .Purfc.w 

Im'vc a^eV ijs-moTcm<w>» pronounce itio N.-» B^- 
i^l'.i ^ ^tvix! of mi cii.iniun— <i carrrtt fait* jp»ci- 
jil.'j iin 'ri s cligjnt in its woilinvuulii}... Ti< town 

■ ii: l..- mdrtuoil (an lhi» c»rful, ..trurmri <»l. "fcr *t. 

. i|« a, tii^ni'mi'tt Clt'-onvrtwipr, jo in- 
of :tt" « ;ur,'I.i-K.., nn'iJVhrtptcr|)r)iv ff..;>im. . 4l> 

fi^j, »iii.. . ■ .i |..ian;» vjtrtia skout<jT;fKi. ir» 

ri.-yi.',!,.! lui'a 1.-9 .iHv»i>Hll« »ti r, r>f MlOlU 

l!,.,.f,irr, JS M h k.'i-mr<x't, ii'mn ,'.ioii- k ho 
wUS i" sol- i; ni'i' imittnUft call. A Clotk Vi.mi 
• • '.uu. ;uii>t initj opfwiWouui Ncw-\iirk. ii>& 
..tmn ..i vliuMvlus <\,iiifmxiad sevtftatcom 
-'■'*■»."'. ua,'L ' iltflilT .r^ufl^ — 

8. Turret Clock in North Church, Newburyport, Mass. 
Set up in 1785. Destroyed by fire in 1861. J. J. Currier, 
History of Newburyport. Pages 160, 280. 

9. Turret Clock on Boylston Market, Boston, Mass. 
Clock given by Mr. Ward Nicholas Boylston. Snow's His- 
tory of Boston, page 332. When the Boylston Market was 
torn down the tower and clock were purchased and placed 
on Van Nostrand's Brewery in Charlestown, Mass. Still 
running and in good condition. From information given 
by the late Mr. Patrick Greene, of Boston. 

10. Turret Clock in North Church Meeting House, 
Portland, Maine. Set up in 1802. Replaced by a modern 
clock in 1893. Letter of Simon Willard, dated Jan. 13, 1802 



Simon Willard and His Clocks 131 

(Page 19). Also letter of Simon Willard dated July 6, 1802 
(Plate 7). 

11. Clock in Chief Clerk's office, Supreme Court, 
Washington. Ordered by Associate Chief Justice Story. Set 
up in 1837. One of the last made by Simon Willard before 
he retired. (See Plate 12.) 

12. Franzoni Clock. Statuary Hall, United States 
Capitol, Washington, D. C. Works made especially for the 
case. Probably put in at the same time that Simon Willard 
put up the other clock in Chief Clerk's office. Has the 
stamp, "Simon Willard & Son" (Plates 13 and 14). 

13. Turret Clock in First Parish Unitarian Church, 
Cambridge, Mass. Made in 1832. In fine condition and 
still running. Has a brass disk engraved and enclosed in 
glass. 




14. Large Regulator Clock in office of the Massachu- 
setts Hospital and Life Insurance Co., 50 State St., Boston, 
Mass. Has solid mahogany case, had name " Simon Willard " 
on the dial, but name was painted out some years ago. Dial 
made of heavy brass, originally had base piece and acorn 
top ornament. A remarkably fine specimen of Simon Wil- 
lard's work. Information given by Win. Bond & Co. 



132 Simon Willard and His Clocks 

15. Large Regulator Clock in the basement of the 
Provident Savings Bank, Temple Place, Boston, Mass. Has 
original glasses in fine condition; date not known. 

16. Dial Clock, Roxbury St., Roxbury, Mass. Large 
double dial clock put up on Mr. Child's house, Simon Wil- 
lard's next door neighbor. Set up about 1780. Remained 
there upwards of 80 years. Now in possession of some 
clock collector. Letter from Mr. Benjamin James, Roxbury, 

Mass. 

17. Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. Large Reg- 
ulator Clock in Room 4, University Hall. Made in 1829 

(Plate 11). 

18. Gallery Clock in Gore Hall. Has a modern oak 

case. 

19. Gallery Clock in Divinity Hall. Presented to the 
college by a friend. 

20. Large Double Dial Clock. Made for the old 
Boylston Bank, Boston, Mass. Was recently sold at auction. 
Present owner unknown. 

21. Turret Clock on First Congregational Church, 
Falmouth, Mass. Has inscription, " B. F. Willard, 1840." 
Probably made by Simon Willard and put up by his son, 
Benjamin F. Willard. 

22. Gallery Clock in same church. Has front glass 
painted by the English artist. Inscription on front glass, " S. 
Willard, Patent." 

23. Gallery Clock in Second Church, Codman Square, 
Dorchester, Mass. Has inscription on the dial, " Presented 
by the Hon. James Bowdoin." Given in 1808. Almost 
identical with the clock in the First Church, Roxbury, Mass. 



SIMON WILLARD AND HIS CLOCKS 133 

24. Large Turret Clock made for some church or 
public budding in New York City. Author has been unable 
to locate it. (See No. 7, Page 131.) 

25. Large Double Dial Clock, formerly stood in front 
ot the old Cambridge Bank, Cambridgeport, Mass. Was 
bought by Mr. Gardiner M. Lane and is now in front of his 
stable at Manchester, Mass. It is still an excellent time- 
keeper. 



















































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